


Our Past Selves

by pcworth



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-17
Updated: 2018-04-29
Packaged: 2018-06-08 23:05:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 24,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6878470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pcworth/pseuds/pcworth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A magical mishap forces Regina to confront a past she would rather not think about. Takes place after the defeat of Zelena (the first time). Ignores canon of Hook and Hood relationships as they are non-factors for this. Trip to the past from that season never took place nor the drama that happened afterward. Swan Queen story</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Regina led the way down into her mausoleum, Emma trailing behind her.

She considered warning her once more (as she always did) that she was not to touch anything down there, but she held her tongue. She told herself it was because she was in a hurry to get the spellbook she was looking for and not because she was beginning to trust the blonde woman.

They had been outside for the past hour practicing magic – and Regina had to admit that Emma was getting better. But explaining to her that she needed to rely less on the power of her magic and begin to actually understand the nuances of magic was not going as well.

The fight with Zelena had finally convinced Emma that she needed to learn to control her magic. Regina had agreed to tutor her since Emma said there was no way in hell she was going to let Mr. Gold do it. This had begun a once a week lesson on Sundays.

Once they were at the bottom Regina examined two of the bigger trunks stored down there, trying to remember which one had the book she wanted. She ended up going to the one on the right.

Emma stood off to the side, her hands clasped behind her back – a way to stop curiosity at the things down here getting the better of her. She had been trying hard at this magic stuff so the next time a Big Bad rolled into town she would be better equipped.

Spending more time with Regina had been a bonus. She really felt like they had finally turned the corner on the animosity that had defined their relationship in the beginning. Henry also got to see that his two mothers could get along for more than five minutes at a time. Emma had even managed to score a couple of homemade meals at the Mills’ household.

Yep, she thought the last few months had been peaceful and enjoyable from her outlook.

She was about to ask Regina if she needed some help when Regina moved from one trunk to the next but when Regina bent over the second one Emma found she was unable to speak. Regina’s backside was on full display and Emma couldn’t keep her eyes off of it.

This wasn’t the first time she had been caught off guard by the pure beauty that was Regina. Sometimes all it took was Regina flipping her hair or getting lost in concentration for Emma’s mind to go in directions she knew she shouldn’t let it.

There were times she wished Regina and her had met under other, more normal circumstances. Maybe if they had … no, her mind said, that was another track she shouldn’t take.

Even though they appeared to be getting along now there were way too many obstacles in the path of having that type of relationship with Regina. The number one being her parents. They were still not 100 percent behind Emma learning magic with Regina, but as she pointed out to them, it was either Regina or Gold and they did both agree Regina was the better choice.

Not that she was considering taking a step toward maybe asking Regina out, but even if she was, she saw her mother being the bigger problem there then her father. There was just too much of a history there between Regina and Snow. The two women seemed to have gotten into a measure of cordiality while around each other, but Emma figured it wouldn’t take much to get that truce to break down.

If only those two could get beyond their shared past.

Emma finally turned from the sight when Regina knelt down in front of the chest. A different kind of kneel down had popped into her mind and she hoped turning away would be enough to slow down her heart rate and her libido.

Deciding she needed a distraction from the distraction that was Regina’s tight ass, she turned her attention to the rows of bottles that were on a shelf near to her. Odd, she thought, these weren’t here the last time she had been here. There was one bottle in particular that seemed to be shifting colors. It was pretty Emma thought as she reached out and picked it up. She was still staring at the swirling of colors so she didn’t hear someone calling out her name.

“Oh there you are,” she heard her mother say and as she looked up to see her parents walk into the mausoleum the bottle dropped from her hand. The colors in it were still shifting as if fell to the concrete floor and shattered. The colors continued as the liquid inside turned into smoke and began to rise from the floor. Emma took a step back and the four adults in the room watched as the smoke rose to the ceiling and began to swirl up there like the beginning of a tornado.

“Regina?” Emma said. “What is that?”

Regina had come to her side and bent down to examine the shattered bottle. “I’m not …”

Before she finished the smoke stopped swirling and sped suddenly toward Snow before Charming could reach her. It began swirling around Snow, keeping any of the others from reaching her.

“Do something,” Charming yelled at Regina, but Regina seemed at a loss as to what to do.

And then just as quickly as it started, it was gone.

But standing in Snow’s place was a girl. Her expression was one of terror and confusion as she looked around the room and at the adults.

“Regina,” she cried out and she ran to Regina, wrapping her arms around her and burying her head into her.

Regina’s eyes were wide and she made no move to hug the girl back or comfort her. Instead she looked up at Charming whose expression almost mirrored her own.

“Regina, where is this place? I want to go home,” the girl said.

Emma had no idea what was going on but she could tell the girl was scared and she knelt down beside Regina and looked at the girl.

“Who are you?” she asked, even though her mind was telling her there was something familiar about her.

The girl sniffed back her tears and looked at Emma. “My name is Snow. Snow White.”


	2. Chapter 2

“Turn her back,” Charming demanded of Regina. After extricating herself from Snow’s hug, Regina had moved off to the side as far away from the child as possible. Young Snow had appeared hurt by the gesture, so Emma had stayed there beside her while Charming went toward Regina.

 “I can’t,” Regina replied.

“Why not?”

“Because I have no idea how it happened.”

“We’re here in your place with your stuff, how do you not know?” Charming asked.

Regina sighed. “I don’t know because the potions and items on that shelf weren’t mine. They were my mother’s. I was in the process of … of divesting myself of these things, which is why they were over there. Those items in particular were ones which I didn’t know what they did so I needed to determine that first so I could ensure that they could be disposed of safely.”

“So you think leaving dangerous items out for anyone to pick up was the safe way to handle that?”

“Don’t lay this at my feet. Perhaps if you had taught your daughter not to touch things that don’t belong to her this wouldn’t be an issue.”

“Maybe I would have gotten the chance if someone hadn’t robbed me of the chance of raising my daughter.”

Seeing that this wasn’t going to end well, Emma told Snow, who was on the verge of tears, to stay put and went over to them.

“Would you two cut it out,” Emma said as quietly as possible. “You’re upsetting her.”

Charming glanced over at Snow, but Emma noticed Regina kept her eyes anywhere but on the now young girl.

“I will try and figure out what was in the vial so we can reverse this,” Regina said. “Just take her somewhere so I can work.”

“We’ll take her home,” Emma said to her father. “I’m sure Regina will figure this out.”

Emma and Charming approached Snow, but as soon as they did Emma could see the fear in the girl’s eyes. Emma knelt down in front of her. “Come on, we’re going to go um…we’re going to take you somewhere to get something to eat.”

“No,” Snow said, rushing past them and again clinging to Regina. Emma stood and she could see that Regina felt more uncomfortable than even her father was at this moment. There was another emotion flashing through Regina’s eyes that Emma was unsure about.

Regina pulled the young girl’s arms from her.

“Where’s father?” Snow asked.

Regina took a step back from her as if she had been physically struck. It was clear that Snow wasn’t just a young child, she was the young child she was back in the Enchanted Forest and she had no idea who anyone was but Regina. She must also be young enough that she didn’t know her father was dead.

“Go with them,” Regina said pointing to Emma. “I have work to do.”

She turned from Snow and moved away once more.

Snow eyed Emma and Charming with no recognition and with confusion as to who they were and why she should go with them. She backed away from them again.

“Regina,” Snow said. “I want to stay with you.”

“Not an option.” Regina said as she knelt down next to the broken vial. She wouldn’t even look at Snow. “Go with them.”

“Who are they?”

Regina looked up at them and smiled. “That is David. He is the new captain of the guard. You can trust him. He will make sure nothing happens to you. She is merely an attendant, feel free to tell her what to do. Her name is Emma.”

“I don’t want to go with them; I want to stay with you. Please, I’m scared. Where is this place?” Snow said, looking around the mausoleum.

“Will you just give us a minute,” Emma said, and she walked over to Regina, pulled her up and led her over to a corner where they could speak.

“I don’t think she is going to go with us without you.”

“Then take her by force,” she responded.

“Look she doesn’t have a clue where she is at,” Emma said. “What happens when we go outside and she sees cars and everything else that is clearly not home?”

“Not my problem,” Regina responded. “Unless you have some knowledge of magic you have been hiding away from me, I’m the only one who can figure out what exactly this is that you spilt. The sooner I can do that the sooner the less annoying version of your mother returns.”

Emma was surprised that Regina would say the adult version was less annoying than the child her mother was now. “Seriously,” Emma said. “What would you suggest we do?”

“As I said, take her by force if you have to,” Regina said. “Now leave me to figure this out.”

Emma moved back to Snow while Regina returned to the vial.

“Let’s leave Regina to her task and we’ll just um go.”

“Queen Regina,” Snow said. “My father would have you turned out of the castle in a second for not speaking with respect to the queen.”

Emma glanced over at Charming who was just as shocked as she was.

“I meant no disrespect,” Emma said begrudgingly. “But the queen wants to be left alone so we should do as she wishes.”

“Why are you dressed like a man?” Snow asked.

“Um …”

Snow walked over to Charming, looking him over from head to toe. “Where is your sword? If you are to be a protector of the royal family you should not be without your sword.”

“I’m sorry your majesty,” he said bowing.

“Well,” Snow said, crossing her arms. “Go get it. I will not go anywhere with you if you aren’t properly armed.”

“Of course,” he said, bowing once more. He motioned to Emma to follow him to the entrance way.

“Was she like this back in the Enchanted Forest?” Emma asked immediately.

“No,” he said. “Albeit I didn’t meet her until she was older. I have no idea what she was like as a child. I just sort of assumed she was a lot like she is now.”

“Yeah, not so much,” Emma said, running her fingers through her hair. “What are we going to do? Regina doesn’t want her down there, but if we bring her up here with us we are going to have a lot more explaining to do.”

“Do you believe that Regina doesn’t know exactly what happened?”

Emma considered the question a moment even though she knew the answer immediately.  She glanced over at Snow who was inching closer and closer to where Regina was. “Yes I do,” Emma said. “She’s right I shouldn’t have been touching something especially when I had no idea what it was. I believe her. She has no idea what caused this and I think she would just as soon find out and reverse it. I don’t think she is a fan of young Snow.”

“I think that is an understatement,” Charming said. “Regina hated her for what she did as a child in telling about Daniel. This is a nightmare.”

“Unfortunately, as I told Regina, I don’t see Snow going with us without Regina,” Emma said. “Look at her, it’s like she is gravitating to her.”

Charming turned and saw that Snow was now standing next to Regina, who ignored her, while she stood up and went to one of the chests with Snow on her heels. Regina bent over to grab something from it and when she turned there was Snow. Regina was clearly annoyed but she continued to ignore Snow as she went back to the vial and began collecting the pieces of the vial and putting them in a small, velvet bag.

“You should have the servant do that,” Snow said to her.

“I am capable of doing it myself,” Regina replied.

Once she had the pieces collected, she went back to the trunks and began pulling out several books, which she left sitting there in a pile. She then walked over to Emma and Charming, again with Snow right behind her. Regina opened her mouth to speak, but Snow chimed in first. “Are we going home now?” she asked. “I’m tired. And didn’t I tell you to retrieve your sword, Captain?”

“Yes Captain,” Regina said putting emphasis on the title. “Why don’t you retrieve your sword and meet us back at my place?”

Charming was about to say something back, but held his tongue when Emma put a hand on his forearm. “Yes your majesty.”

He bowed and took the stairs two at a time to hurry.

Regina now turned to Emma. “We have some other items we need to take with us. Books. I placed them over there if you can grab them.”

Emma went over and picked them up and through how long Regina expected her to play the role of attendant.

“Let’s go,” Regina said to Emma.

“Are you sure about this?” Emma asked. “The whole going outside?”

“Don’t question your queen,” Snow said forcibly.

“She’s going to have to learn at some point that we aren’t in Kansas anymore.”

This time it was Emma’s turn to sigh as she knew Regina was right. There was no way they go through this without young Snow learning they weren’t in the Enchanted Forest anymore. Emma nodded to Regina and led the way up. With her back turned to them she didn’t see how Snow reached for and grabbed Regina’s hand as she began to walk up. Regina paused and looked down at where Snow was clinging to her, but she didn’t force the issue, instead continued the walk upstairs.

….

 

Emma stood at the bottom of the stairs watching Regina try and get Snow to come back up the stairs. They had no sooner gotten out of the mausoleum and Snow had stopped and looked around her. Here in the cemetery, there really wasn’t much for her to see of the modern world except for Regina and Emma’s cars which were sitting out there.

Snow had immediately pointed and asked what they were and Regina’s explanation did them no favors. And when Regina suggested that they would be getting into these “horseless carts” and leaving in them Snow had freaked out and went running back down the stairs.

“We have to go,” Regina said to Snow. “We don’t have time for this.”

“What is this place?” Snow said as she was crying. “I don’t understand.”

Emma could see that Regina was getting frustrated as she had walked away from Snow. Emma took that time to approach the little girl who she was struggling to see as her mother.

Again she knelt to talk to her.

“I know all of this probably seems very scary to you,” she said. “But I also know you can handle it because you are one of the bravest people I know.”

“I don’t know you.”

Great, Emma thought. She glanced over at Regina who appeared to be in her own little world at this point, but seeing her there it gave her an idea.

“Um … well yes we don’t know each other but you see I feel like I know you because Queen Regina speaks so highly of you.”

“She does?”

“Oh yes, all the time. She is always telling me how you are such a brave little girl. In fact she told me about the day you two met, about the runaway horse and how you weren’t even really scared.”

“But I was scared,” Snow admitted. “The horse was out of control and all I could do was hang on. Then … then Regina was there. She came out of nowhere and she saved. She’s really brave.”

Emma could see that Snow spoke of Regina as if she was in awe of her and she wondered how old was Snow right now. How old was she now and where did she fit into the timeline? Since she referred to Regina as queen it was after Regina had married King Leopold, yet before his death.

Was this how Snow had been? Had she idolized Regina growing up?”

“She is brave,” Emma said. “And you probably want to show her that you can be brave too, just like her, right?”

Snow sniffed and then her eyes went to Regina, whose back was toward them. She nodded to Emma.

“Ok, then let’s go.” She stood and offered Snow her hand but Snow ignored it and walked up to Regina instead.

“I’m ready to go,” Snow announced, some of the confidence returning to her voice.

Regina’s eyes went to Emma first as if to ask what it was that she said that got the girl to change her mind, but all she said was “come on.”

This time Regina took the lead with Snow following and Emma bringing up the rear.  Once outside again it was Regina’s turn to pause as she realized with both of their vehicles there Snow would most likely insist on riding with her and not Emma. Again her eyes went to Emma but again she said nothing and simply began striding toward her car.

When she reached the passenger side, she opened the door and instructed Snow to sit. Snow hesitated a moment and then did as she was told. But she didn’t understand Regina when she was told to put on the seat belt and Emma was about to put down the books she was carrying and do it for her but Regina ducked into the car and quickly fastened it before shutting the door and walking quickly to the driver’s side door.

“The mansion,” was all she said.

Emma hurried to her own car, not wanting to be too far behind them.


	3. Chapter 3

“What is this place?” Snow asked. She had been quiet for most of the car ride, looking out the window in wonder at all she was seeing.

“It’s called Storybrooke,” Regina answered. “This is a town in a world that is different than the one we came from.”

“I want my father. Where is he?”

Snow didn’t pay attention to Regina gripping the steering wheel tighter at that question. When Regina didn’t answer Snow asked a series of other questions, all of which were ignored by Regina, she finally fell silent by the time they were pulling into the mansion’s driveway.

Regina got out and was opening the passenger side door when Emma pulled up behind her. She had to bend over and unlatch the seatbelt for Snow and then told her to get out.

But Regina didn’t move toward the mansion, she went to Emma instead.

“Henry is inside. Perhaps you should go in there and explain what is happening,” Regina suggested.

“Oh, yeah, right. How do we handle him with her, I mean explaining who he is?”

“We don’t,” Regina emphasized. “As much as I hate to say this, it may be best if you tell Henry to keep his relationship with me a secret for now. He is your son. As an attendant it wouldn’t be entirely out of the question that your child would also be part of the household staff. It’s probably the best way to play it for now.”

“Are you kidding me? First of all, this whole attendant thing has got to go. I’m not going to play your servant until we figure this out. Secondly, she understands this isn’t the Enchanted Forest anymore so I think we can drop some of these old world ways. You can’t expect that we can keep the fact Henry is your child when there are photos of him all over the place in there.”

“Well you better hurry up and take those photos down then,” Regina said. “I don’t like this anymore than you do, but your mother is a little girl right now who has no idea what is happening around her so doing this in a manner that will be easy for her would I think be something you and your father would want. As for you being an attendant, outside of the royal family, which Snow has no idea you are a part of, only an attendant would be around us that much. So I will stay out here with her while you take care of things inside.”

Emma glanced over at Snow for a moment before heading toward the house and going inside.

Snow approached Regina who was getting the magic books out of the car.

“Why are we here?” she asked.

“This is where I live in this world,” Regina answered.

Snow looked at the mansion once more. “This is a castle?”

“Yes.”

“I live here too?”

“You are staying here for now.”

Snow started to ask yet another question but she saw Regina was not paying attention as she had one of the books open. Instead she walked toward the house. Looking back and seeing Regina was still absorbed in the book so she stepped up closer to the door.

“Don’t even think about it,” Regina said loudly as Snow reached for the doorknob, causing Snow to bring her hand back to her side quickly. “Come back over here.”

“But I’m bored.”

Regina sighed. “The attendant is preparing things inside for us; until such time we will wait here. If you are going to be queen you need to learn to be patient,” she said with a sense of déjà vu.

She went back to reading the book.

Snow came over and stood next to Regina, mirroring her stance. It lasted less than a minute before Snow began tapping her foot, which got Regina’s attention.

“When we get inside, we’ll find a book or something for you to read.”

“What’s that book?” Snow asked.

“It’s a book for adults.”

“I’m hungry.”

“We’ll get you something to eat when we get in there.”

“Is cook in there?”

“No, cook is not in there.”

“Where is she?”

Regina stopped before speaking as she tried to remember where the woman was who had been the main cook at the castle. It took her a moment but she remembered the woman whose name had been Kimberly or Karen now worked as the cook at the high school.

“She lives across town I think, works as a cook at a school.”

“Then who is going to cook our food?”

“I will.”

“But you’re queen. Queens don’t cook their own food. That is servant work. Make Emma do it.”

“I shudder to think what Miss Swan would come up with for us to eat. I’m more than capable of handling it,” Regina said.

Another car pulled up and Regina moved off Emma’s car, leaving the books on the top of it, and walked toward Charming who was approaching them with his sword strapped to his waist.

“Where’s Emma?”

“Inside, handling …things.” Regina said seeing that Snow had followed her and was once again standing next to her. She hoped that Charming would understand she didn’t want to say specifically due to Snow’s presence. He merely nodded and Snow took the opportunity to walk around him, studying him.

“Scott is bigger,” Snow announced suddenly. “But I suppose he will do.”

“Who is Scott?” Charming asked.

“Our former captain of the guard,” Snow answered before Regina could. “He was bigger than you, more muscles.”

Charming gave Regina a look as if to ask if Snow was being serious.

“She’s right,” Regina shrugged. “His sword was bigger too.”

She went back to the car and grabbed the book she had been flipping through. This whole situation had gone past its expiration date in her mind. She needed to find a way to return Snow to her adult self. She never thought she would be wishing for adult Snow to be around.

It was another several minutes before Emma came back out with Henry, who was wide-eyed at the young version of his grandmother. Emma introducing Henry to Snow as her son made Regina regret the charade they were putting on, but explaining that Henry was also her son would have made things 10 times worse.

The fact that Snow White was so cheerful and everyone’s friend was not a reputation the girl always had as Regina remembered. There weren’t a lot of other kids around court –well not entirely true, there were other kids, but they didn’t seem to want much to do with the princess. Regina had actually smiled once when she overheard two of the handmaidens’ children calling the princess a “brat.” The children thought they would be in trouble when Regina came around the corner right after they said it, but instead Regina had cook give them some of her favorite sweet bread.

They all went inside and Snow immediately began walking around studying everything. While it hadn’t changed that much, Regina did feel a bit of sorrow at seeing empty spaces where photos of Henry were once on display.

The ringing of a phone startled the young girl who was looking around wildly for the source of it.

“Sorry,” Emma said, trying to discreetly pull her phone out of her pocket and answer it while leaving the room.

“What was that?” Snow asked, and everyone’s eyes turned to Regina.

“It’s called a phone,” Regina said. “In this world it is way for people to talk when they are far away from each other.”

Emma came back in quick enough and motioned for Regina, who stepped closer to her.

“Got called out to an accident on River Road,” she said. “I got to go. My dad can stay here. I will be back as quick as I can.”

“Go,” Regina said. “If we need the sheriff it’s going to be because I have killed your mom if she keeps asking questions.”

“Not funny.”

“Wasn’t meant to be.”

“Come on Regina, it can’t be that bad,” Emma said. “It’s a strange place to her so of course she’s going to be curious. Didn’t Henry ask a lot of questions at that age?”

“At that age, he was stealing my credit card to go find his birth mother,” she said crossing her arms in front of her. “Now I wonder where the idea of theft came into his gene pool.”

“Then she is about 10, I couldn’t tell,” Emma said. “So this isn’t long into your um … you know.”

“My forced marriage?” Regina offered up. “No not too long into it would be my guess, a year, maybe less.”

Emma was about to ask another question but then realized she was supposed to be leaving. She told Henry and her father she would be right back but she needed to go take care of some business for the queen. She saw Henry stifle a laugh.

“Henry and David, why don’t you stay here with the princess while I go to the kitchen and see about dinner?” Regina said.

“I’ll go with you,” Snow said.

“Fine.”

She led the way to the kitchen which involved more questions about what things were such as the refrigerator and how it worked. It wasn’t even 10 minutes before Regina was asking Henry to go fetch her some aspirin.

Deciding to keep things simple she ended up making rigatoni. Snow kept by her side almost the entire time – leaving it only to help Henry get ingredients. Fascinated by Regina cooking she mostly kept quiet as she watched Regina work.

When the food was ready, Regina put some rigatoni, garlic bread and vegetables on a plate for Snow and put in on the table for her. Snow waited, watching Regina as she made up a plate for Henry who began to sit down at the table once he had his food in hand.

“Servants don’t sit at the table with the royal family,” Snow pronounced, stopping Henry in his tracks. He looked over at his mother as if to ask what to do.

“Sit Henry,” Regina said. She then prepared a plate for David and ignored the look of disdain Snow was giving Henry for sitting down there with her. Once David had his food, Regina made a plate for Emma and set it aside and finally got her own and took a seat as far away from Snow as she could manage.

Snow kept quiet throughout the meal, in fact everyone did. When she finished eating Snow put the silverware on the plate and turned to Henry. “You can take that now, I’m finished.”

Henry glanced again to Regina who merely nodded and he sighed as he got up and removed her plate, clearing it off, rinsing it and putting it in the dishwasher as he had been taught to by his mother. He then returned to his own plate and finished off his food.

Regina had barely touched her own food, keeping one of the books near her the entire time and concentrating on it more than eating.

“Regina.”

She looked up to see Snow staring at her. “I’m tired.”

“Follow me,” she said standing up and walking out with Snow right behind on her. They went upstairs, and Regina directed her to the guest bedroom. “You can use this room.”

Snow entered it, walking around in a circle to look at everything. “It’s not very big.”

Regina resisted the urge to roll her eyes as she knew back home Snow had an entire suite.

“Look things are different here as you can see,” Regina said. “This place, it’s not like home.”

“I want to go home,” Snow said, tears starting to form in her eyes again. “Why can’t we go home?”

“I’m working on getting things back to normal.”

Snow didn’t respond but she looked over at the bed. “Will you tell me a story?”

“No.”

“Where is your bedroom?”

“At the end of the hall.”

Snow again looked at the bed. “Are my clothes here?”

“Wait here,” Regina said. She left quickly thinking that if this last much longer she would have to get clothes for her. But for now she went to her own room, pulled out a piece of her own clothing and used her magic to turn into something appropriate for Snow to wear.

“How did you do that?”

She turned to see Snow standing in her doorway with an expression of wonder and yes, a little fear.

“I told you to stay in the room.”

“How did you do that?” Snow asked.

“Magic,” Regina answered reluctantly, unsure of how this would go. She had so far avoided using magic in front of Snow for just this reason.

“But father says magic users are all evil,” Snow said, backing up a step.

Regina too had heard Leopold’s dissertation on magic. Thinking about it now made her want show his daughter exactly what a magic user could do.

“Queen Regina,” Henry called up from downstairs. “Emma is back.”

Regina walked to the door forcing the piece of clothing into Snow’s hands. “Go to bed.” She went downstairs where Emma was already eating her food.

“So you plan on keeping Snow here?” David asked.

“What else would you suggest? Do you want to take her home where her options to sleep are the couch or the bed you lay in with your wife? Not to mention the fact, how are you going to explain to her about Neal?”

“Where is my brother anyway?” Emma asked.

“Belle was watching him when your mother and I came looking for you and when I came to pick up my sword I called her and asked if she wouldn’t mind watching him a little longer this evening. Still I have to go pick him up.”

“I think Regina’s right. Snow isn’t going to go home with you anyway. She clearly doesn’t want to be far away from Regina,” Emma said. “Why is that by the way? Was she like this before? I mean I sort of had the impression that …”

“That what? That I was always the Evil Queen?”

“No I didn’t mean it like that. I just …”

“Look, she’s fine upstairs for now. I will stay up all night if I have to in order to figure out what that was in the vial and how to reverse it,” Regina said. “For now, why don’t you go pick up your son David and go home.”

“That’s my wife up there, if you think I’m going to leave her unattended you are wrong.”

Regina had her hands on her hips and looked up at the ceiling. “Fine, do whatever you wish,” she said finally. “Why should my opinion matter? Now if you will excuse me, I’m going to lock myself away in my office and do something constructive like trying to figure this out.”

She stormed out without another word.

“Maybe you should go pick up Neal,” Emma said after Regina left.

“I’m not leaving your mom here with her.”

“Regina’s not going to do anything to her,” Emma said. “She’s not the same person she once was. Besides I’m here so mom isn’t alone.

“Mom wouldn’t hurt her,” Henry said.

David looked down at his grandson and then to his daughter. “You’re right. I know she wouldn’t hurt her. It’s just there is a lot of history there and sometimes it’s not so easy to forget.”

“It’s not easy for her to forget either,” Emma said.

David was about to open his mouth to say that is what he was afraid of but he got the feeling that wasn’t exactly what Emma meant. “I will go pick up your brother and head home. Call me if anything happens that I need to know about, otherwise I will be back in the morning to see if Regina has made any progress in reversing this.”

“Thank you,” Emma said.

…

Emma waited a little while and then knocked on the door to Regina’s home office before entering. Regina had her head down reading a book at her desk.

“My dad went to pick up Neal and go home for the night. He’ll check back in the morning. In the meantime can I help?” Emma asked.

“No,” Regina said not looking up. “You’re not far enough along in your magic training for these books.”

“I wish I was so I could help.”

Regina looked up at her this time. “Maybe it would be a good idea if we stopped with the lessons anyway. You know enough to handle yourself in a fight.”

“What? Is this because I broke that vial? I swear I can keep my hands to myself. If anything this has brought that message home loud and clear.”

“No, it’s not that. If we were back home, if none of this had ever happened, you would be a princess and doing magic, well that wouldn’t have been encouraged. Clearly your parents have particular feelings about magic so perhaps it’s best if we end this now.”

Emma couldn’t believe Regina was saying this. Regina had encouraged her to learn more about her magic. She had called Emma special because of her magic.

“We can’t pretend that none of this happened. We are here, we aren’t in the Enchanted Forest,” Emma said. “I’m not a princess, and even if I was I make my own decisions about my life. I want to learn.”

“We can discuss it further later,” Regina said. “For now I need to concentrate on this. If you are here to guard your mother from the Evil Queen while your father is gone, perhaps you can better do so closer to her.”

“Regina…”

“Miss Swan, I need to concentrate.”

She put her head back down and Emma reluctantly left the room. She went back out to the main room and ended up watching a movie with Henry until it was time for him to go to bed.

“I guess it’s couch city for me,” Emma said.

“I can show you where mom keeps the spare blankets,” Henry said. They walked upstairs and Henry showed her the linen closet. She thanked him and then grabbed a sheet and blanket. She was stopped outside of the guest room where she presumed Snow was sleeping. Nudging the door open she decided to check on her.

Snow was curled up on the bed, hugging what appeared to be a nightgown of some sort and sniffling. Emma approached her, sitting on the edge of the bed.

“Are you ok?” Emma asked.

“I want to go home.”

“I know you do,” Emma said. “Regina, the queen, she’s working on it. I know this is all strange to you but I promise you are safe here. Is that why you are crying because you’re scared?”

“Father is going to be angry at her.”

Emma cocked her head a little at this. “You mean at Regina.”

Snow nodded.

“Why would he be angry at her?”

“She did magic. She made this from magic,” she said indicating the nightgown.

“Ok,” Emma said, unsure why this was a reason to be upset. It made her think of something else though. “Does your father often get angry at the queen?”

Snow shrugged.

Emma was unsure if that meant that Snow didn’t know or if perhaps Snow didn’t understand exactly what Emma meant by asking. Outside of Henry when he showed up at her door she didn’t have a lot of experience talking to 10 year olds.

“You should change clothes and try and get some sleep,” Emma said.

“But she made this with magic.”

“Yeah, she probably did it because she didn’t have clothes around here for you to wear,” Emma said, still not seeing the big deal. Then she thought about what Regina had just said to her downstairs. “Do you not like magic?”

“Father says only bad people use magic. He says they use it to harm other people.”

“Is that what you think, that Regina is going to harm you?”

“No,” Snow said quickly. “She’s like my mom, but she won’t let me call her that.”

The idea that Snow would ever consider Regina as a mom, much less ever attempt to call her that was unfathomable to Emma. The way this Snow was being toward Regina it didn’t make any sense with the stories she had heard. “If you don’t think she is going to harm you then there is no harm in putting on those clothes. Come on, you need to get to bed.”

Snow got off the bed and Emma suddenly found herself in the position of attendant once more as she had Emma hold the nightgown while she took her other clothes off and then put it on. She looked down at the discarded clothes and Emma took the hint as she bent down and picked them up. The phrase high maintenance came to mind.

“Can I get you a glass of water or anything before you sleep?”

“No, that will be all,” Snow said dismissively and Emma withdrew from the room hoping that things would be normal again in the morning.

….

Emma had managed to fall asleep on the couch, but she woke in the middle of the night from a sound. Grabbing her phone, she saw it was after 3 a.m. and the noise was definitely coming from the kitchen.

Getting up she headed that way, wondering if Snow had changed her mind about the water. When she opened the door she saw it was Regina filling a mug of coffee.

“What are you still doing up?” Emma asked seeing that Regina hadn’t even changed clothes so most likely hadn’t gone to bed.

“I’m still researching.”

“Found anything useful.”

“Not really.”

  
”Then go to bed.”

“I haven’t gotten through all the books.”

“I don’t care,” Emma said, approaching her. She took the mug out of Regina’s hand and dumped the contents down the sink. “Go to bed. You can do more searching in the morning.”

Regina hesitated as if she wanted to say something in return.

“Go to bed,” Emma repeated. “Come on.” She led the way out of the room. “You, up there, me, I will return to the couch. Good night Regina.”

“Good night Mis … Emma.”

Without another word Regina retreated to the upstairs while Emma dumped herself back on the couch.

Regina paused outside of the guest bedroom when she got up there, her hand hovering over the door knob. She clinched her hand though and walked to her bedroom. Turning on the light after shutting the door, she paused – there was Snow White asleep on her bed.

Being as quiet as she could she retrieved some pajamas from the dresser and went into the bathroom to change. Once done, she slipped into her side of the bed, being careful not to touch the sleeping child. Even though it was dark she could still make out some of her features.

She wasn’t overly shocked to find Snow here. When she had first been forced to marry Leopold it had not been unusual for the young girl to wake and seek her out. Snow would hop up on her bed and ask her to tell a story, or read some book or just braid her hair. In the beginning Snow seemed to be constantly at her side – seeking a fill in mom for the one she lost.

Thankfully, Regina was allowed to have her own private rooms within the royal suite so she had an alternate bed to sleep in on those nights the king didn’t insist upon her presence in his bed.

Try as she might she couldn’t block those dark memories from her mind, especially not now when the young Snow was practically forcing her to remember. She briefly considered going to the guest room and sleeping there, but finally turned away from the child and stared at the ceiling until sleep finally sought her out.


	4. Chapter 4

Snow woke to an empty bed and immediate confusion. It took her a moment to recall the strange events of the last day – appearing in this different world where everything was new and scary. The only comfort she could take from it all was that Regina was there with her.

But Regina wasn’t acting like herself and it had taken Snow a little while to figure out she looked different, looked older. She was also wearing clothing that was unrecognizable to her, as was everyone else she had seen so far.

Still she was the only thing Snow had to cling to.

When Regina had left her alone in that other room to sleep, she had been unable to in such odd surroundings. This may be a castle in this world, but it was nothing like home. Finally, she had snuck out of bed and down the hallway to the room Regina had been in before. She had gotten onto the bed hoping that maybe she could sleep there or that when Regina returned she could help her from being so scared.

Despite her asking earlier if Regina would read her a story, she had hoped maybe if she was still awake when Regina returned that perhaps she would get a story after all. She liked having Regina read to her before bed. It reminded her of when her own mother would do it. 

Finally she could stay awake no longer and when she woke she saw the other side of the bed had been turned down and she wondered if Regina had slept there and if she had, where was she now.

She sat up in bed, tucking her knees up against her body and hugging them. Surely Regina would be coming back, or if not, the attendant woman Emma would come to prepare her for the day.   
….   
Emma was sitting at the table as Regina prepared some breakfast. She sipped at her coffee and watched the other woman work. It wasn’t as if this was the first time she had seen Regina working in the kitchen, but she could tell despite her concentration Regina was still tense over yesterday’s incident.    
It was the little things, like how she moved around getting the different ingredients that were like glaring signs to Emma. Others probably wouldn’t have noticed, but Emma felt like she had a pretty good grasp on Regina’s mannerisms by now.

Emma had said good morning to her when she first came downstairs, but all Regina said in return was that the spell that turned Snow into a child hadn’t worn off over night. 

That had prompted Emma to ask Regina if she thought that it would just wear off eventually, to which Regina answered that she wasn’t that lucky of a person. Emma could tell the other woman hadn’t gotten much sleep and she worried about this going on too long and not just for her mother’s  sake.

“You are probably going to have to physically go upstairs and get your mother,” Regina said.

“Oh, yeah, she probably didn’t get the chance to memorize the layout here or anything.”

“It’s not that,” Regina replied. “She’s a princess so there is an expectation that she doesn’t just get up on her own in the mornings. It would be an attendant’s job to see that she is awake, bathed and dressed before bringing her breakfast to her.”

“You have got to be kidding me.”

Regina actually smiled at her. “I am not. Royal life tends to be very structured in many ways. Attendants know their jobs and know when they are expected to perform them.”

“Again we have to stop with this whole attendant bullshit.”

“You do realize that if I had made better choices in life, you would be like her. You would be a princess and you would have the same expectations that she has in regards to others waiting on you hand and foot. You wouldn’t be the independent woman that you are now,” Regina said. “You would constantly be around attendants or guards and your life really wouldn’t be your own.”

“Is that how it was for you?” Emma asked. “I mean you were royalty too even before you were queen right?”

“I didn’t have nearly the number of attendants that your mother had.”

“Ok, but I still don’t get it. What exactly does an attendant do – I mean were they like slaves or something?”

“No. They were paid,” she replied. “An attendant is sort of like a personal assistant. Their job is to make sure that things are running as they should. For instance, I had an attendant, her name was Maria, and she would make sure I was up in the morning and dressed …”

“Alright, stop there,” Emma said. “Did she physically help you dress?” She quickly told her about helping Snow put her on her clothes for bed the night before, leaving out the part about the talk of magic.

“Yes, she would help me get dressed like that. Some of the clothes from back home were difficult to maneuver in.” Regina sighed and turned off the griddle where she was preparing to make pancakes before taking a seat at the table with Emma. “Think of it this way, we didn’t have indoor plumbing so someone would have to draw a warm bath – that would be the attendant’s job. If I had to go to court or we had other royalty visit it would be expected that I would wear better clothing. Often my mother would come in to my room the night before, pick out what she wanted me to wear and instruct the attendant to make sure I was wearing it and how to do my hair. If I had not come downstairs and been presentable as instructed I might get yelled at by my mother but the true punishment would fall on the attendant who didn’t follow orders. It wouldn’t have mattered if I was just being stubborn and purposely didn’t do what my mother wanted, the attendant would still be punished. I went through several before I learned that lesson. But I liked Maria. She was kind.”

Emma noticed an almost wistful expression from Regina for just a moment and knowing what she knew of Cora, she doubted that Regina had been free of any punishments.

“Many times since you were around your attendant so much they sort of became like friends at times,” Regina continued.

“Was that kosher? You know, royalty and the servants being tight like that?”

“It depended on the circumstances. While the attendants were mine, I wasn’t their boss while under my father’s household. They reported to my mother so I was for the most part careful about how I interacted with them.”

“You said for the most part. I take it that means you weren’t always careful.”

“No, I wasn’t,” Regina said looking down at the table.

Emma waited, hoping that Regina would open up to her but instead she stood and went back to getting ready to cook the pancakes. “Like I said you should go upstairs and get her down here.”

“Ok,” Emma said. 

She got to the door when Regina said, “she’s not in the guest room, she’s in my room.”

Emma was about to ask why but with Regina’s back turned toward her, she thought better of it.

Still she had enjoyed having Regina sit down and talk with her, opening up to her. She felt like they really were getting closer every day, and not just because Regina had been teaching her magic. Again, she wished things had been different between their families, but seeing how things were with Regina and little Snow she doubted that would ever really happen.

Going up the stairs, she wondered why Snow was in Regina’s room and why if she had been in the room did Regina just not bring her downstairs when she got up. Maybe that wasn’t the queen kind of thing to do.

Getting to the top of the stairs she knocked on Henry’s door, waited a moment and then opened it up. He was surprisingly dressed already. 

“Why don’t you hurry up and get downstairs and give your mom a hug or something before your grandmother gets down there,” she said to him.

“This is odd, even for us, you know that right?”

“Oh believe me, I am well aware.”

He left the room while she headed to get her mother. She again knocked on the door before entering. Snow, who had been huddled up on the bed quickly got off of it. “It’s about time Emma,” Snow said, in a rather haughty tone that almost made Emma turn around and leave the girl to her own devices.

“Where are my clothes?’ 

“Um, hold on a moment,” Emma said. She rushed back to the guest room and picked up the dress that Snow had been wearing when she was transformed and then hurried back to the impatient princess.

“I wore that yesterday,” Snow said as if Emma was too stupid to know that.

“It’s all we have right now. We can get some more clothes today, but for now, this is all we have,” Emma said. 

“That is unacceptable. Bring me something proper to wear.”

“Would like me to ask Regina to use her magic to make you some thing different to wear?” Emma said with a smile.

Emma almost felt bad when she saw a look of fear cross her mother’s face, but she had to wonder if it was fear of magic in general or fear involving Regina using magic. She thought again about what Snow had said the night before about how angry her father would be if he knew Regina used magic.

Snow came toward her and snatched the dress from her hand. “Don’t call her that. She is queen.”

“Yes your majesty,” Emma said rolling her eyes the moment Snow had turned from her. 

She waited for Snow to dress – something she didn’t have to be an active participant thankfully – and then led her down the stairs. As they entered the kitchen Snow went directly over to Regina, who was flipping over a pancake.

“Emma isn’t a very good servant. You should have her reassigned to the scullery.”

She said it loud enough that Emma heard her, which was her intention. Regina glanced back at Emma who threw up her hands in frustration and then took her seat at the table.

“There is no scullery here, at least not like back home. And I am sure Miss Swan is an adequate attendant.”

“She gave me the same clothes to wear that I was wearing yesterday.”

“Yes, well, we didn’t have any clothes here for you. After breakfast Emma would love to take you shopping to get some other clothing,” Regina said as she put three pancakes on a plate and handed it to Snow. “Go sit down and eat.”

“Emma should be cooking, not you,” Snow mumbled as she walked over to the table. She gave Emma a look but didn’t say anything else as she sat down. Henry already had his plate of food and Snow looked over at it and Emma could tell the girl was itching to say something about Henry eating at the table or maybe she was offended that Henry was eating before her.

She sat there sulking while Emma was given her plate and until Regina sat down at the far end of the table from her. 

Snow continued to sit there staring at her plate. “Emma, why don’t you add some syrup to her pancakes,” Regina suggested and when Snow looked up at her. “It will make them taste better, I promise.”

Once Emma did that Snow took her first bite. That seemed to be enough for her to continue eating. They were almost done when there was a knock at the door.

“That’s probably David,” Regina said to Emma, who got up to answer the door.

A moment later Emma came back in followed by Charming who was not only wearing his sword but also pushing the stroller with Neal in it.

“A baby,” Snow said excitedly as she got down from her chair and approached the stroller. “Can I hold him?” 

“Of course,” David said. 

“Perhaps in the other room where she can sit on the couch first,” Regina suggested.

They all moved into the room, except for Regina, who had started clearing the dishes. Emma thought she should have helped, but she kind of wanted to see her now young mom hold her baby brother.

Emma wasn’t sure how long they stayed there. At first Snow held on to Neal on the couch and Henry wanted to take a picture of it, so they had to explain to her a little that she had just had to sit still while Henry took it. They showed it to her and she was a little afraid at first thinking it was magic, but they explained to her there was no magic involved. While she still seemed skeptical she didn’t freak out like Emma was worried she might.

When Neal got a little fussy David put down a blanket on the floor and laid him down and Snow sat down there with him playing.   
Emma hadn’t noticed Regina come in – or more specifically – come in as far as the entryway where she had stopped and was watching Snow with an unreadable expression on her face. 

Somehow Snow must have sensed her audience as she turned toward Regina. “Do you think father and you will have a child? I would love to have a little brother.”

Emma watched as Regina took a step backward, almost as if she had been physically struck and maybe in a way she had been. She paused only a moment before retreating back into the kitchen, Emma right behind her.

Regina didn’t stop until she was facing the counter, both hands spread out and holding onto it as if she needed it to keep upright.

“Are you ok?” Emma asked.

“Get her out of here,” she said.

“Regina …”

“Now Miss Swan,” Regina said, turning to face her. “I want her out of my house now.”

“She doesn’t know any better,” Emma said.

“Yet you did,” Regina said. “You knew better than to touch things in my vault, but you just couldn’t help yourself. This is on you. Now take her from my house, so that I can work to fix this.”

Emma thought about saying something else but she didn’t. Instead she left, hoping that Regina did indeed find a way to fix this.


	5. Chapter 5

“Is Regina mad at me?” Snow asked, as they drove to get her some clothes. Emma was driving with her father in the back with her brother.

“No, why would you ask that?”

“She didn’t say goodbye. She just left.”

Regina had essentially ran from the house –Emma supposed because she hadn’t moved quickly enough in removing Snow from the house. It made Emma feel awful because this was her fault.

Clearly what Snow had to say about Regina having a child with Snow’s father had bothered Regina. But Emma was sure there was more to it than that. While Regina had lashed out at her with anger, Emma had seen hurt in her eyes.

She had never really given much thought to Regina’s time in the Enchanted Forest before she became the Evil Queen. To her, the Enchanted Forest wasn’t home so it wasn’t something she thought a lot about, but now with this situation she didn’t have a choice but to think about it.

“I’m sure she was just in a hurry,” Emma said, glancing over at her mom. “Being queen and all, she’s a busy person.”

Snow looked down at her hands which were folded and lying on her lap, but didn’t say anything. Emma thought she was sad yet she didn’t know what to say to her. This was her mom, sort of, and even if she weren’t a little kid, Emma still wasn’t sure that she would know what to say to her. There was too much history there between Regina and Snow – and the one adult didn’t want anything to do with it.

They got to the clothing store and after explaining to Snow for the second time that this was place to purchase clothing for her, they went in.

Less than 10 minutes later Emma was wishing she had left with Regina.

 

…

 

Striding through the door and up to the counter, Regina laid out the broken vial on the cloth she had collected it in and only then made eye contact with Mr. Gold.

“What was in it?” she asked.

“Problem dearie?”

“Cut the crap,” Regina said. “I’m not in the mood for your tricks, riddles or games today. I want to know what was in that vial.”

Gold considered her for a moment and then carefully picked up one of the shards and examined it.

“Where did it come from?”

“My vault. I had been going through all the stuff that was in there, specifically many of the things that belonged to my mother. I was going to dispose of them once I knew what they were and a safe way to do it.”

“I will conjecture based on this broken vial that it didn’t go to plan. Why don’t you tell me what happened once you broke it?”

“I didn’t break it,” Regina said. “It was Em … it was Sheriff Swan. She broke it. And then this multi-colorful smoke appeared and it swirled up like a tornado to the ceiling of the vault. I figured the colors would be a clue would be a clue as to what it was but I haven’t been able to find anything in my books.”

He put the shard back down. “Wait a moment,” he said and then disappeared into the back. When he came back he had a vial of his own, opened it and dropped what appeared to be a drop of blue water onto one of the shards. It turned multicolor like the smoke had been for a moment and then went back to normal.

“Hmm. It would appear your mother kept some powerful magic lying around,” Gold said.

“You know what it is then?”

“Perhaps,” he said. Again he walked away and this time he grabbed a booked from a shelf and began leafing through it. “You still haven’t told me what this did. And I don’t mean a description of what it did when it broke. I mean what did the magic it contained do?”

“That shouldn’t matter in telling me what it was.”

He snapped the book shut. “Then figure it out for yourself, your majesty.”

“Fine,” she said, picking up the glass with the shards and walking back toward the door. She got all the way there, her hand on the doorknob when she stopped and turned back and walked back to the counter.

“The magic surrounded Snow White and turned her into a child. She’s about 10 years old again,” Regina sighed. “And her memories are those of her child self.”

“No wonder you are desperate enough to darken my door,” Gold said. “What’s the matter, the reunion not full of fond memories?”

“Hardly” she said. “Now what was in that vial and how do I reverse it?”

“It is a desire spell.”

“A desire spell, I don’t understand.”

“Not desire in the sense of lust,” Gold said. “Well it could be but seeing as Snow White is now a kid, I’m doubting it is that kind of desire, especially since it was her daughter’s doing.”

“So you are saying Emma wanted her mother to be a child? That makes no sense.”

“It’s probably a little more complicated than that. This particular brand of magic can take even an unconscious desire and try and fulfill it. I imagine your mother never used it because it is unpredictable. We think we know ourselves best but who really knows what desires we have deep inside?”

“How do I reverse it?”

“You can’t.”

“There has to be a way.”

“There is none,” he said, handing her the book. “Read it if you don’t believe me, but do return it when you are done.”

She snagged it from his hand and again moved to leave.

“You may want to have a word with the dear sheriff,” Gold said, stopping her. “It is after all her desire, therefore the magic won’t stop until her desire is fulfilled. One has to wonder what she was desiring exactly. I mean clearly this mishap of Snow being a child is upsetting to you for obvious reasons so one has to wonder if that was the point.”

 

…

 

Emma wasn’t anti-children, but spending hours on end with little Snow was souring her on the idea of ever having another child. Atleast not a spoiled little girl.

She thought clothes shopping would be easy. They would pick her up a couple of outfits and hopefully she would be back to normal before she actually wore them all.

Emma was certain that even her father was annoyed by Snow before it was all said and done.

Every outfit that Snow tried on was criticized by the young girl because it wasn’t like it was back home – something that she should have realized before they got there.

Despite not liking any of the outfits she tried on, she still insisted on buying about 10 of them.

The whole ordeal lasted nearly three hours.

They returned to the mansion where Snow immediately began calling out for Regina, wanting to show off her new clothes to her stepmother.

But Regina wasn’t there.

Another hour passed and Emma sent Regina a text. Then 30 minutes later she was calling Regina. Two hours later she was getting worried all the while trying to keep Snow calm because she too was getting worried despite Emma repeatedly telling her Regina was busy working.

She pulled Henry and her father aside while Snow was holding onto Neal and giving him a bottle.

“I’m going to go look for her,” she said. “You two stay here and keep lying to her so she won’t freak out. I’ll text you when I find her.”

Emma went first to the vault, thinking Regina would be there researching or just trying to hide so she didn’t have to interact with Snow. When she didn’t find her there she checked city hall, but she wasn’t there either.

She checked Granny’s, but no one there had seen her.

When she left there she called Regina’s phone again, swearing when it went to voicemail after a couple of rings.

It was only after she spent the next 40 minutes driving aimlessly around town looking for a sign of Regina’s car that it dawned on her that she had a way to find Regina, in fact Regina had taught it to her. It was a locator spell that Regina had wanted her to learn just in case something would ever happen to Henry and Emma would need to find him without her help. It involved having something of the person’s so Emma went back to Regina’s vault, not wanting to go to the mansion where Snow would surely question her.

She found some clothes – clearly from queen mode Regina – and she took a piece and held it in her hands and let her magic flow through the object a way for it to recognize the person who it belonged to. Then she sent her magic out in an ever expanding ring from where she stood. It kept going and going and Emma was getting fearful that for some reason Regina was no longer in Storybrooke, but then the magic found her and Emma dropped the cloth and went running.

Breaking every speed limit Emma arrived at Storybrooke Stables in record time. She had no idea what Regina would be doing out here but she was now on high alert. She had only been out here a few times herself so wasn’t sure where to look so she stopped the first person she saw and asked them if they had seen her, and she was pointed in the direction of the biggest stable.

Entering it, she saw Regina at the far end and she was sitting on a hay bale next to a stall.

Emma approached her as Regina continued to sit there seemingly lost in thought since she didn’t acknowledge Emma’s presence until Emma was right next to her.

“Did you do this to punish me?” Regina asked.

Emma actually looked around her thinking Regina must be speaking to someone other than her.

“What are you talking about?”

“Do you hate me that much that this is what you desire?”

“Regina, what are you … I don’t hate you at all. What is going on? I’ve tried calling you and texting you but you weren’t answering. What are you doing out here and why are you asking me these questions?”

For the first time Regina looked at her and Emma almost took a step back. The expression on her face was more like when Emma had first come to town and they had been at each other’s throats.

“Why would you want your mother to become a child?”

“I wouldn’t. Good God after today I was hoping you had come up with answer on how to reverse this.”

“It can’t be reversed until the magic runs it course,” Regina said standing up. “It can’t be undone until the magic gives you whatever it is that you were desiring when you dropped that vial. So again I will ask you, did you do this to punish me?”

“Whoa, whoa, time out,” Emma said. “Speak English will you because I have no idea what you are talking about.”

“Let me lay out for you then, the magic in that vial was a desire spell. It works to give the person who used it, in this case you, something that you desire. Therefore something you desire is connected to the magic turning your mother into a child. And a child she will remain until the magic completes its task and you get what you wanted.”

This time Emma did take a step back as she thought about it. “No,’ she said. “This is ridiculous. There is nothing I want that would involve turning my mother into a child. Why would I want that?”

“I’ve been thinking about that all afternoon,” Regina said. “And the only thing I can come up with is that you did it hurt me. Having that child around is like pure torture. That child is the reason I lost the man I loved.”

Emma again looked around as she realized why Regina was here. Daniel. She had come out here because she was thinking of Daniel and probably thinking about how he died. Having young Snow around had to be a painful reminder of all of it.

“I swear to you, I do not want to hurt you,” Emma said. “I don’t hate you. Come on Regina, look at how far we have come. Why would I do that?”

“I don’t know, but the desire you have doesn’t have to be something you are conscious of so maybe your subconscious is trying to tell you something.”

Emma shook her head no. She knew that wasn’t possible. She didn’t subconsciously wish Regina any ill will. In fact when it came to desire, she wasn’t afraid to admit – at least to herself – that she desired this woman in front of her. In fact she had been thinking such thoughts right before all of this happened.

Emma took another step back as her mind flashed back to that moment in the vault when she was thinking about how close she and Regina had become, and how she would like it to be even closer but she didn’t see that as a possibility because of Regina and Snow’s past.

If only those two could get beyond their shared past is what she had thought.

“Fuck me,” Emma said. “I did do this.”

Regina crossed her arms in front of her taking that admission as one that Emma had intended to hurt her.

“It’s not what you think.” Emma said quickly as if she could read Regina’s mind. “This isn’t about me hating you or anything like that.”  
“But you do realize why this happened don’t you?”

“I might,” Emma said. Even as her cheeks felt hot from the embarrassment of it, she knew there was no way she could tell the truth. The magic clearly made Snow a child so that she and Regina could reconcile their past so that Emma could then make a move on the mayor.

“Out with it,” Regina said.

“Are you sure there is no way to reverse it?”  
“If there was I would have done it immediately. Now what is this all about if it isn’t about me?”

Technically it was about her, but Emma had no idea how to frame this so she didn’t have to reveal what her desire actually was.

“I think we should get back. She’s been pretty worried about where you have been all day, and um I think I might need some time to think this through a little bit,” Emma said, praying that this stall tactic might work even as she doubted it would.

Now Regina was scrutinizing her even more. She was doing that slight head tilt thing she did when she wasn’t quite sure what to make out of something Emma had done or said.

“Please,” Emma said. “I promise I didn’t want to hurt you.”

“I guess that remains to be seen,” Regina said.

“I’ll figure this out, but for now, let’s get back. Henry was also worried about you.”

“Fine,” Regina said. “But you need to resolve this quickly.”

“It is my number one priority,” Emma said.

She waited for Regina to lead the way out and once they were to their cars Emma stopped as she opened her door. “Maybe when we get there you could try to spend time with her.”

“Why would I do that?”

“She thought you were mad at her when you left this morning and not seeing you all day, well I just thought maybe it would keep her from bugging you if were nice to her for a bit.”

Regina looked as if she wanted to go off on Emma, but she held her tongue – almost. “Forty-eight hours Miss Swan. You have that much time to fix this. After that, I want her out of my house and I don’t care what you do with her or if she ever returns to normal after that because I assure you she and I will never occupy the same room ever again.”

Getting into her car, Regina pulled away while Emma still stood there. Once she got into her own car she knew how absolutely screwed she was. Forty-eight hours was not enough time to repair decades of hate.


	6. Chapter 6

"Regina!" Snow said as she entered the door, running up to her and giving her a hug. "Where have you been?"

Regina was about to pull the child's arms off of her when Emma, who was right behind her, cleared her throat. Regina looked back at her, only to receive a silent please from her.

"I was busy," Regina said, moving away to break the hug. "But I left you in capable hands, or so I thought."

"I got new clothes, do you want to see?" Snow asked excitedly.

"Let me take care of dinner first," she said.

"Oh, I had the captain take care of that already since Emma abandoned her post," Snow said.

Regina's eyes went to David, who shrugged. "I ordered pizza to be picked up at 5:30."

"See, I had it taken care of, just like you would have done," Snow said, clearly trying to impress Regina. "Can I show you my clothes now?"

Emma meanwhile was silently praying that Regina could keep the snark level at a minimum as she waited for the other woman to reply.

"Of course," Regina said, giving what was obviously a forced smile in return. Snow took her hand and lead her up the stairs, but not before she gave a backward glance at Emma.

"Where was she all day? Did she find anything out about what was in that vial? Can she return my wife to adulthood?" David asked.

"Sort of," Emma said walking around her father and going into the kitchen as he and Henry followed.

"What do you mean sort of?"

"She knows what happened," Emma said. "But, no she can't reverse it."

She could tell David was trying hard not to have an outburst.

"There has to be a way to reverse it," he said.

"There is," Emma said. "Sort of."

"I'm going to ask you to stop saying that and explain to me what the hell is going on," he said. "I need my wife back, you and Neal need your mother back. Now if there is some way to reverse this, I don't care what it is, I will see it done."

Emma cleared her throat. "There isn't anything you can do, at least not that I can think of. You see …" she trailed off, not knowing how to explain this to her father. "it's complicated because the magic, there is no way to reverse it but if the magic runs its course, does what it's supposed to do then she will return to normal."

"What's the magic supposed to do?" Henry asked before David could speak up again.

And here is where she was stuck. She had no idea how to tell the truth about this. Hell, she didn't even know how she was going to get Regina and Snow to let go of their past animosities. The only thing she really knew about it was a story from Henry's book, but she had already come to believe the story was much more complicated than that.

"Emma?" David said when she continued to be silent.

"Regina and mom need to start getting along better," she said, hoping that was an answer that would be somewhat convincing without getting into the whole truth. "Once they do, mom will return back to normal."

"They already get along."

Emma gave him an 'are you serious' look.

"Compared to how they used to be, yes they get along," David said.

"Well, they need to get along better," Emma said.

"And that is all that is needed?" David said.

"From what Regina could find out, we think so."

"So, Regina is going to make an effort?" David asked.

"It's not just her," Emma said, already feeling like she made a mistake in telling him. "It's both of them, both of them need to get along and really put the past in the past for once."

"But Snow doesn't even know they have a past," David said. "How is this supposed to work?"

Emma didn't have an answer for it.

That was a part of what Emma didn't understand about this magic – why turn her mom into a child? If the point was for Regina and her mother to get over the past, why put Snow in her past form? It didn't make sense to her and she hadn't really gotten the chance to talk to Regina about it in order to get her take on it.

It was a conversation she was dreading but one she knew she needed to have. She couldn't do this without Regina's help, but how to tell Regina that the reason this was happening was because Emma had wanted to make a clear path to being able to date her.

This could not get any worse.

"For right now, I say we just do all we can do to give Regina and mom a chance to work through some stuff," Emma said. "Let's try not to cause any undo stress for either of them."

David nodded even though Emma could tell he was not down with this plan at all.

Emma decided that was enough talk and it was time to check on Regina and her mom to make sure they were both still alive. David and Henry left to go get the food and Neal was taking a nap so Emma walked up the stairs and she could hear her mom speaking on high speed to Regina from the guest room.

Taking a peek in from the doorway, she saw Snow twirling around in one of the dresses they had bought, going on and on about the shopping experience itself. Regina was sitting on the edge of the bed, her arms crossed and looking like she would rather be anywhere else.

"Do you think next time you can go with me?" Snow asked.

"Hopefully in a matter of days, it won't be necessary and everything will be back to normal," Regina said.

"We're going home?"

"Sure, let's go with that," Regina said, getting up. She made to leave and Emma stepped into the doorway and gave her a look. Regina turned back to Snow. "The dress looks lovely on you."

Emma saw Snow beaming at the compliment. It wasn't even a great compliment but Snow's expression was one of ultimate gratitude. She obviously idolized Regina, which made Emma wonder why things went so badly between them. How could Regina see how Snow looked up to her and still have done the things she had done? Why couldn't fate have left them alone to heal on their own?

Regina stepped around her and left the room.

"Did you show her all that you got?" Emma asked her.

"Not all," Snow shrugged.

Damn, Emma thought, Regina had been gone for like 30 seconds and already Snow was depressed.

"Can I ask you something?" She waited for her mom to nod yes. "You asked me earlier if the queen was upset with you when she left, why would you think that? Has she gotten upset with you before?"

There was another shrug and Snow took a seat on the bed. "I thought she would be happier being queen, being my stepmom, but she doesn't seem happy and nothing I do …"

"Hey," Emma said, taking a seat beside her. "You aren't responsible for anyone's happiness but your own."

"But I want her to be happy."

"That's nice of you," she said. "I want her to be happy too, but you need to understand you can't just make another person happy."

"Maybe she will be happier when we get back home. I want to see father again, and I know he probably misses Regina as much as she misses him."

"Yeah, well, maybe we shouldn't go mentioning the king around her."

"Why not?"

"You said it yourself, she probably misses your father so she might be sad because of that."

Emma felt sick to her stomach for saying that and she was pretty certain she bought her herself a one-way ticket to hell for it.

"Is there anything else we could do to make her happy?"

"I don't know, but if I think of something, I will be sure to include you."

….

When she left the guest bedroom, Regina went to her own and shut the door. She wanted to be left alone for a while. As much as she wanted to believe that Emma meant her no harm with whatever this was, being around young Snow was like its own form of torture.

That first year as queen was the worst year of her life. She would shudder every time the king would beckon to her. Sharing a bed with him …

She closed her eyes, trying to think of anything but that.

Now young Snow was here and she was just like it was before. She remembered how Snow would often want to be in her presence there in the beginning. She was completely oblivious to the pain it caused her, and oblivious to the fact it was all her fault.

She took a deep breath, again trying to keep her inner demons at bay.

It hadn't always been like that.

_There was a knock at the door, and while Regina knew she shouldn't be nervous because the king never bothered with a knock, she was still slow to open the door._

_"Hi Regina, story time?" Snow asked as she held the book out in front of her. She was dressed in a nightgown, clearly ready for bed, but this had become something of a routine with her. It wasn't as if Snow needed someone to read to her, she could read on her just fine, but Regina had learned early on that this was not about the story, it was about the comfort that the young girl got from the ritual of it._

_"Of course," Regina smiled._

_Snow smiled back and followed her inside. They got up on the bed and Regina took the book and began to read. She only got through a few chapters before she looked down and saw Snow was asleep._

_Brushing a piece of hair back from Snow's face, she watched her sleeping. She had dreamed of one day having a child with Daniel, maybe even more than one. They would be a family and they would be happy._

_This is not how she had planned on having a child._

_Knowing what Snow had done in telling her mother about Daniel, she had wanted nothing to do with this girl when she first came here, but she also wasn't given much of a choice. It had been made clear to her early on that she was a replacement mom for the Snow. She was merely here to provide a service whether it be to the daughter or her father._

_Despite what Snow had done, she knew she hadn't done it vindictively. She was just a child. She had no idea the consequences of telling Cora about Daniel would be._

_She was still looking down at Snow when she heard the door to the outer chamber open. By the time the door to her bedroom opened she was on her feet standing beside the bed._

_"Good evening Regina," Leopold._

_"Good evening, your majesty."_

_He walked over the bed, seeing his daughter lying there asleep and bent over to shake her awake. Snow opened her eyes with a yawn._

_"Father," she said._

_"Hi honey," he said. "Why don't you scamper off to your own bed?" He gave her a hug once she got off the bed and then she came around to the other side where Regina was standing. She held her arms out for a hug but Regina merely bent down and handed her the book she still had in her hands._

_"We'll finish it another night," she said, and stood back up before Snow could attempt a hug._

_"Night father, night Regina," Snow said before she left. As the door closed behind her Regina felt like it might as well have been the closing of a jail cell._

A knock on her real bedroom door knocked her out of the memory.

"Yes?"

"Dinner is here," Emma said through the door.

"I'll be down in a moment."

She waited until she heard Emma walk away before standing. She went into her private bathroom off of her room and washed her hands – more to delay going downstairs than anything else.

Somehow, she had managed to forget that she hadn't always had an antagonistic relationship with Snow. She had tried, she really had tried to accept her fate in being queen, but there were too many nights like that one when Leopold would call upon her company.

She shuddered at the thought of it.

Whatever Emma had done, she may have given her 48 hours to fix it, but Regina wasn't sure she could handle Snow for that long.

…

Emma couldn't help but laugh a little under her breath as little Snow was introduced to pizza. She hadn't really thought much about how pizza would be another of those things that they didn't have in the Enchanted Forest.

When Snow saw David and Henry eating it with their hands, Emma thought Snow was going to throw a fit. Clearly eating with your hands was not something that one did when they were royalty. Snow followed Regina's example of using utensils and despite never using a fork on her pizza before, Emma followed suit.

The meal was again fairly quiet as the adults in the room couldn't seem to think of any safe topics to speak of and so far Snow didn't see Henry as anyone worth her time to speak to. Snow continued to tell Regina about the shopping trip and the rest of things she had seen today that were different from "home."

Regina listened but she didn't comment much at all. Emma had gotten good at reading Regina over the years and she could tell that Snow's presence like this was wearing on her. She was part way through the meal when she excused herself saying she had a headache and was going to go lay down. Snow got sad immediately and looked at Emma as if willing her to do something to make it better. But it was only a couple of minutes after Regina left that Snow also declared she too was done and left.

"How are those two supposed to get a long if Regina is going to take off every time she is around Snow for more than five minutes?" David asked.

"I don't know," Emma replied. "Ok? I don't have all the answers. I don't have any answers. All I know is this is my fault and I have no idea how to fix it."

"Well Regina should never have had dangerous magic just lying around in her vault," David said.

"No, she probably shouldn't have, but it doesn't change the fact that this happened because of me, not her. I want mom back just as much as you do, but you trying to blame Regina for this, putting it all on her shoulders isn't helping matters either," Emma said. "Maybe you should consider trying to get along with her as well."

Emma angrily got up and also left. She didn't really know where to go but she needed to blow off some steam so she got into her car and went for a drive.

It 90 minutes and two texts from Henry that caused her to finally return. She hadn't been driving the entire time, in fact she stopped at the Rabbit Hole and had a drink. Then she went home to grab a change of clothes and some other items as she planned on staying at the mansion until this was resolved.

Before this had happened, she really had thought things were going well. It had been quiet around town, she was learning to control her magic and she had gotten to spend more time with Henry and Regina.

Now she feared that not only would her mom be stuck as a child, but that Regina was going to resent and hate her once more. She knew Regina deserved to know the truth of what she had "wished" for, and when she returned she had decided that putting it off any longer would be foolish.

When she entered the home, she found Snow was in the main room sitting on the couch, staring with complete fascination at the television. Emma would have laughed at the scene as Snow was watching Sleeping Beauty, but she was not in the mood for laughter. Henry was there with her as was her father, who was holding Neal. When he saw her, David got up and indicated they needed to talk. She followed him into the kitchen.

"I'm sorry for my little outburst earlier," Emma said, hoping to stave off any lecture from her father.

"I'm sorry too," he said. "You are right. Regina has changed a lot and I don't give her enough credit for it. I do get stuck in the past when it comes to her, and it's time we all move forward. Whatever you need me to do in order to get your mom back, I'll do it."

"Thanks," Emma said. "I think I need to speak to Regina some more. Has she come out of her room at all?"

"No."

"Keep an eye on the kiddoes will you, while I go talk to her."

"Sure," he said. "Nothing I enjoy more than Disney movie marathon with my wife."

Emma smiled at him, at least he could keep a bit of a sense of humor about this.

She left the kitchen and went upstairs, stopping in front of Regina's door and listening a moment before knocking.

"Come in."

Emma opened the door to find Regina standing next to the window. She didn't turn when Emma entered and closed the door behind her.

"Are you alright?" Emma asked.

"No Miss Swan,"

"I don't suppose saying sorry will help matters," Emma said, putting her hands in her back pockets. Even though she had been determined to have this conversation with Regina, she was still on edge about it.

How to tell this woman in front of her – a woman who right now probably had every right to hate her – that the reason all of this was happening now was because she wanted to date her.

"It doesn't help," Regina said, turning toward Emma. "But it's appreciated."

"I didn't mean for any of this to happen," Emma said. "And I certainly didn't want you getting hurt."

"But you do know why this is happening," Regina offered up. "Are you ready to tell me why you are so interested in me making nice with your mother?"

"Yeah," Emma said. "It's the only way for her to be turned back to normal. You see, right before I dropped the vial, I was thinking that it would be nice if you and my mom could get along, and get past your past."

"I sort of gathered that part on my own. The question is why the sudden interest in whether or not your mom and I can be friends?"

Emma took a deep breath and exhaled. "Because I thought it would be easier if you two weren't at odds, easier for me to ask if you would like to um go out on a date with me."

For several breaths neither woman said anything, just looked at each other.

"I'm sorry," Regina said finally. "Could you repeat that?"


	7. Chapter 7

"I said I wanted to ask you out on a date," Emma said.

"Oh."

"Oh? That's all you have to say?"

Regina opened her mouth as if to say something and then closed it again before repeating the action. When she did it again, Emma asked, "Would you please say something?"

"I'm confused," Regina said. "You want to go out with me and somehow making your mom a child plays into this?"

"No. I mean yes, but, wait, listen, when I picked up that vial, I was thinking about how I wanted to go out with you but I didn't think that you would or that it would be a good idea with how things are between you and my mom. I was thinking that if you two could get a long and put the past in the past then maybe it would make it easier to ask you to go out with me," Emma said, speaking at a rapid pace, even more nervous now that she had confessed. "I swear, until you told me what the spell did, I had no idea I was the cause of this."

Regina walked over to the bed and sat down, not saying a word. Emma stood there at first waiting for Regina to blow up at her, but she still sat there being quiet.

Emma walked over and still got no reaction, so she sat down next to her.

"I'm sorry," Emma said. "I didn't mean for this to happen."

Regina leaned forward, her elbows on her knees, her hands clasped in front of her.

"You wished for your mom and me to get along." Regina said. "Why couldn't you wish for something that is actually possible?"

"I didn't know I was making a wish," Emma said.

Regina sat back up and looked at her. "I know you didn't."

"Does that mean you aren't mad at me?"

"Oh no, plenty mad," Regina said. "But that will have to wait as we have a bigger issue now that I know what has happened here."

"I think it's a big enough issue now, but what are you talking about?"

"It is as I just said, you have wished for the impossible. Your mother is going to be child until she grows back up to adulthood, assuming she can even age and isn't stuck in this form forever. Gold wasn't wrong, there is no reversal for this magic. It has to run its course and give you what you want. There is no magical way out."

"That doesn't mean it's permanent," Emma said. "It just means you and mom have to come to terms about some stuff."

Regina let out a small laugh as she stood up. "Come to terms about some stuff," she repeated. "Let me be as clear as possible with you. As much as I would love to have your mother back in her adult form – a sentence I'm not sure I would ever utter – it's not going to happen."

Emma got to her feet, "Why not? I get that you are mad at me, but you can't let my mom stay in this form to prove a point about it."

"This has nothing to do with you," Regina said. "Didn't I just admit I would rather have your mother back as her ever-cheerful adult self?"

"Then what is the problem? You and mom have been getting along better before all of this. You at least stopped trying to kill each other. That girl down there idolizes you, you see that right?"

Regina stepped away from her. "That girl is naïve," she said.

"Of course she is," Emma said. "She's a child. And she has no idea anything about this world. It's confusing for her and the only thing she has to latch on is you."  
"I don't want her latching on!"

"I know this makes you uncomfortable, but this isn't impossible."

"Yes, it is," Regina responded.

"Does this mean you aren't even going to try?" Emma said.

"Let me make this clear to you Miss Swan, there is no way your mom and I can make amends or whatever it is that you wished for us when your mother is a child," Regina said. "If she was an adult then I don't know maybe she and I could try and talk without killing each other, but her like this, no, that's not possible."

"It must be or the magic wouldn't have turned her into a child."

Regina was about to say something in response when there was a knock on the door.

Emma was closer so she opened it to find Snow standing there.

"Regina," Snow said. "Can I come in?"

Emma looked over at her and Regina opened her mouth to say no, but instead Emma said, "sure, come in, I was just leaving." Emma gave Regina a look before leaving and closing the door behind her.

"What do you want?" Regina asked.

"That thing called a movie is over and Henry gave me this book, I thought maybe you could read it to me," she said, holding up a copy of "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone."

"You can read. You had good tutors."

"But this book is from this world," Snow said, looking down at it and then up at Regina. "I might need you to explain it to me."

Regina's eyes went to the book. She remembered Henry reading the Harry Potter books – it started with her reading them to him. She had been amused by the idea of how this world viewed magic.

Back before Emma destroyed her curse and her son still believed she hung the moon and the stars – much like how Snow used to look at her.

"Go get changed – by yourself – into your bedclothes," Regina sighed. "Give me some time to change my clothes and then yes, I will read to you."

Snow smile lit up and she rushed from the room, even as Regina shook her head. She couldn't believe Emma had put her in this position.

"Idiot," she said under her breath even though she wasn't sure if she was referring to Emma or herself.

…

Emma tossed and turned on the couch. She had been on edge since her conversation with Regina. Funny enough it was not because of Regina's insistence that this was impossible – it was because they hadn't actually addressed the fact that Emma wanted to date her.

It was like that part of the conversation hadn't existed. Was this Regina's way of letting her down easy? Or did Regina not even want to discuss it as a possibility?

Or did Regina not want to talk about it because of young Snow?

Her mind had run the gamut of possibilities.

The only thing she knew for certain was that Regina and Snow had not put aside their differences when she had left them alone. Her mother was still a child and Emma was beginning to wonder if she was going to stay that way.

She didn't understand how her mother had gone from what was clearly adulation of Regina to hating her. And why is it that Regina wasn't outright hating Snow. She thought that Regina had been at odds with Snow from the beginning.

It didn't make sense, and she wasn't sure how to make sense of it.

But she needed to. She was the one who caused all of this and at this point she would be happy if Regina would remain on speaking terms with her, to say nothing of dating.

How to solve this was the problem.

What she needed was someone to talk to – someone who would be unbiased but also knew all the happenings that went on the Enchanted Forest, someone who knew Snow and Regina. Unfortunately, she couldn't think of anyone who fit that bill.

Somehow, she managed to fall asleep that night, but the next morning someone was poking her awake.

"What?" she mumbled before opening her eyes to see Snow standing there.

"You should be up and making breakfast."

Emma groaned, but sat up. "Trust me when I tell you Regina doesn't want me anywhere near her kitchen, much less cooking her food. Why are you up so early anyway?"

Snow shrugged. "I thought I would go riding today, and maybe Regina would want to go."

This got Emma sitting up. "I don't think that is a good idea." In fact, Emma was fairly certain it was the worst idea she had ever heard.

"Why?"

Emma wasn't sure how to answer that question so she asked one of her own.

"Have you ever gone riding with Regina before?"

"No. I mean when we would travel with my father, although we were in a coach at the time. Every other time I've asked she's been busy, but we're not home anymore so maybe she isn't busy and we could go riding," Snow explained.

"Even though you aren't home, she is still busy."

Snow frowned and sat down next to Emma on the couch.

"She read to me last night. Henry let me borrow a book."

"She did?"

"Yeah, not very long cause I got sleepy."

"Does she do that a lot, read to you before bed?"

"Sometimes. Sometimes my father comes in and I have to leave."

Emma paused, considering if she should go down the line of questioning she was considering.

"Does your father and the queen get along well?"

"Married people love each other."

"Ok, but does he treat her right?"

Snow looked at her as if she was confused by the question.

"You said earlier that you were afraid that your dad would be angry at Regina over the magic, does he get mad at her often?"

"Father yells sometimes, never in front of me, but I've heard him before. But he is king and that is a hard job and he loves Regina, I know he does. He fell in love with her as soon as he met her just like it's supposed to be. That's what it is going to be like for me one day when I find my true love," Snow said.

From what she knew of her parents' past it wasn't an immediate love at first sight, but Emma wasn't about to burst Snow's bubble on that one. She also had her doubts given what she knew of Regina's past that she in anyway loved the king – and she had her doubts as to his love for Regina. This was another reason why she needed to find some third-party who could explain the goings on of the Enchanted Forest to her.

Then it occurred to her – Granny. She always seemed to know what was going on in Storybrooke whether she was directly involved with matters or not. Surely, she was the same in the Enchanted Forest.

"Hey, why don't we go someplace for breakfast, rather than cooking a meal here. It would allow Regina to maybe have some free time later in the day for you to spend with her," Emma said. "How does that sound?"

"What do you mean go someplace? We always have our meals in the castle."

"Sure, but here in this world, we have places we can go and get a meal. Kind of like how we went out and got you clothes," Emma said. "Trust me, it will be better than Regina having to cook for us all."

"She shouldn't be cooking at all," Snow said, some of that petulance coming back. "Why aren't there more servants around here?"

"That's just not how things work in this world," Emma said. "Look, I get it, things are really different here from where you are from and it will take a while to get used to, but this world isn't so bad."

"I don't want to get used to it, I just want to go home," Snow said.

"I know you do," Emma replied, putting an arm around her. "And I promise I'm going to do whatever I can to make this right again."

….

Regina took her time that morning before going into the office. She had her home to herself and she was taking a moment to enjoy that. Emma had left with her father, Henry and Snow to go eat at the diner. They had invited her, but she had turned them down, telling them she needed to get some work done.

It wasn't a full lie, she always had things to get done, but she didn't have anything pressing she needed to deal with, which was why she was taking her time. Snow had again slept in her bed last night after falling asleep while listening to her read Harry Potter.

Regina had considered moving her into the guest room, but didn't. She had a lot on her mind – and not just with the young Snow. The realization that this was all happening because Emma wanted to date her had surprised her.

They had become closer – spending time with each other and not just for magical lessons.

Still, she hadn't expected that Emma thought of her in that way.

She had always found Emma to be attractive but she had never entertained the thought of them being together. It seemed ridiculous to her – and for the simple reason of her past with Emma's parents. Yes, it was more so Snow than Charming, but either way the idea that the daughter of Snow White was interested in the Evil Queen was ludicrous.

Yet, Regina now found the thought of it impossible to get out of her mind. Did she want to go on a date with Emma? And if she did, what would they do on this date? And if it went well, then what? And if it went poorly, then what? She had a hundred questions swirling in her brain about this.

She wished she had someone she could talk to about this, but frankly the person she was closest to in this world outside of Henry was Emma.

Of course, all of this was moot since they would never go on a date because of Snow.

Regina saw no way out of this wish that Emma had made. Yes, she was done being at odds with Snow the adult, but this wasn't adult Snow. This was a child, a child who Regina had come to hate, whom she had blamed for the direction her life had gone in. This child who was so naïve she didn't even see how horribly Regina was treated by her father.

She had managed to lock away those memories of her forced marriage to the far recesses of her mind, but seeing young Snow was just bringing it all back.

How could she make amends with a child who didn't even know they were at odds?

….

Emma excused herself from the table after inhaling her food, so she could speak with Granny. Going up to the counter, she asked Granny to come down to the end.

"I'm a little busy for chit-chat," the older woman said.

"I know, but I was wondering if you had some time later that you and I could speak," Emma said.

Granny looked over the table she had just come from. "I assume this has something to do with Snow," Granny said. "It got all around town yesterday when you took her clothes shopping. Magical lessons not going well?"

"Something like that," Emma said. "Anyway, she is sort of stuck in that form for a while and I was hoping I could speak with you later about the Enchanted Forest."

"Why?"

"Well, it's complicated. Let's just say I have no knowledge of that place for the most part and I would rather speak with you about it," Emma said.

Granny gave her one of those appraising looks as if deciding whether to call her out on this, but instead she nodded.

"Come after the lunch crowd," Granny said. "I'll make some time then, not a lot of time mind you, so why don't you tell me specifically what you are wanting to know about so I can get straight to the point."

Emma glanced back at the table and then to Granny. "I need to know about Regina's marriage to the king."

Emma was surprised when Granny asked her, "Are you sure that's a road you want to go down? You might learn things you don't want to know."

"I know," Emma said. "But I don't see any choice. I need to know why all of this happened. I need to know why Regina and my mom became the people they did."


	8. Chapter 8

Emma came back to the diner, leaving her mom with her dad and brother. Regina was at work, and Emma figured she would stay there until she had no excuse left to stay there. It was obvious that she didn’t want to be around Snow any more than she had to, which would make breaking this spell or whatever it was even more difficult.

She wasn’t even sure what she expected to hear from Granny. All she knew was that she needed more information so she could find some way to get Regina and Snow to make amends.

When she entered the diner, Granny signaled for her to follow her and they ended up inside Granny’s home – her sitting on a chair while Granny took a seat on the couch.

“Why don’t you start by explaining what exactly is going on with your mother?” Granny said.

Taking her time, Emma told her about how the magical mishap happened and what Regina had learned about what needed to be done to return Snow to normal.

When she was finished, Granny looked at her and said, “When you mess up, you go for the gold standard, don’t you?”

“It’s not like I intended for this to happen.”

“I know,” Granny said. “But what you are asking for is an awful tall order. Still, I will help in any way that I can, although I am not sure what it is that you want to know or where to even start.”

“I guess at the beginning.”

Granny sat back a bit before speaking. “Well, as you know Snow’s mother died and after that it was rumored that the king was hoping to remarry in order to give Snow another mother figure.”

“Is that it? I mean, was he interested in having another wife or was it all about Snow?”

“Difficult to say. If I had to guess, I would say that it started off being just about Snow, but that the king wasn’t going to just choose any woman either. There was talk afrer Snow’s mother died that … ” Granny said. “Are you absolutely sure you want to hear all of this? We are talking about your family here.”  
Emma didn’t say anything immediately. It’s not like she hadn’t thought about this, she had, and while she did feel connected to her parents, she in no way felt connected to the man who was her grandfather.

“I need to know, but I also want to know,” Emma said. “This war, this person Regina is, I want to know how it came to be that way.”

“Ok, then,” Granny said. “Well, as I was saying, there was talk after Snow’s mother died that her father was finding his comfort with many women. Now, fast forward to Snow meeting Regina who had rescued her from a runaway horse. The king is full of gratitude, but he also sees that Snow likes Regina and let’s face it, Regina is very good looking. The king proposes despite knowing nothing really about her and she could hardly refuse.”

“Why not?”

“You have to understand that in our world back then, you didn’t refuse the king. Hell, you didn’t refuse your parents, at least you didn’t if you were in Regina’s position. Remember, she was royalty too,” Granny said. “She was no peasant. She was raised to represent her family’s name well.”

“I don’t need to rehash the part about Daniel’s death at the hands of Cora and how it was Snow who had told Cora of his existence,” Granny continued. “Anyway, the marriage took place and Snow had her new mother. Regina was unhappy from the outset, or so I understand. She was trapped in a marriage she did not, fresh off of losing the man she loved and suddenly having to be the mom to the child who was the reason Daniel was dead, at least in Regina’s mind she was.”

“Despite her unhappiness, Regina was a good mother to Snow.”

“She was?”

“She was. She did her duty. She watched over Snow and did what she had to do. Snow loved her – not as much as her own mother obviously, but still, she adored Regina.”

“I have seen that first hand in the last couple of days. Snow doesn’t want to be away from Regina but Regina wants nothing to do with her.”

“Not surprised,” Granny said. “Let’s not forget that things got bad, really bad.”

“Yeah, but what happened to get it to that point?”

“No one knows for sure,” Granny said. “But I can make a guess. You need to understand that things in that world are different than here. Although there are some things that are universal at times. She was his wife and that means whether she liked it or not, she was expected to perform any wife duties.”

Granny paused a moment, whether it was to let Emma absorb this information or for herself to regroup from it, she let the silence go on for a bit.

“People want to believe that Regina was just evil and that was all there was to it,” Granny said. “Nothing could be further from the truth. She was a good person once and I believe she is trying to be one once again. As queen, at the beginning at least, she was a non-factor in the kingdom. It wasn’t until after the king’s murder that she rose to power. Before that, by all accounts she was ignored by the king except during those times when she was expected to make herself available to the king.”

“As for the king, he doted on Snow. There was nothing he would deny her,” Granny said. “So when she expressed a want for a sibling, well, like I said he would deny her nothing.”

Emma got to her feet suddenly and began to pace. She thought suddenly of Regina’s earlier reaction when Snow had said something at the house about her having a child. That is what had set Regina off. That was what made her so angry that she wanted Snow away from her sight.

“So, you are telling me that Regina was being used as some more of breeding whore for the king,” Emma said, not mincing words. “And this was just allowed because that is how things were in that world.”  
“Don’t,” Granny said. “Don’t say it like that when you know very well this world has its own forms of evil. Neither world is perfect.”

“Yeah, I get it, but come on, you have to admit that is pretty messed up.”

“I agree, but there was no one there who was going to put a stop to it. Regina was alone essentially. The only companionship she had in the castle was a child and when Snow expressed the wish for a sibling, Regina knew it wasn’t the king’s decision per se.”

Emma sat back down, “Regina’s right. There is no way to make amends between her and Snow.”

“I don’t believe that and neither do you or you wouldn’t be here talking to me.”

“I was a whole lot more positive about it before you started talking.”

“I did warn you that you would hear things that you wouldn’t want to hear.”

“Yeah, you did,” Emma said, rubbing her forehead hoping the headache she now had would go away quickly. “But how do I get them not to hate each other when my mom is oblivious to any of this hurt?”

“You concentrate on Regina,” Granny said. “There was a time when she didn’t hate Snow. Yes, she was angry over what happened with Daniel, but she still tried to be a mother to her. You have to appeal to the young woman she once was.”

Even as she heard the advice, Emma thought, easier said than done. She had a hard enough time appealing to adult Regina.


	9. Chapter 9

Regina didn’t usually drink alcohol while at work, but today, she poured herself a glass and drank it down. Then she poured herself another.

After all, technically work hours were over. She simply didn’t want to go home – not with young Snow there.

Sitting in her chair, she nursed this one longer.

What was she going to do?

She couldn’t let this go on forever. The only way to solve it was to bury the hatchet it with Snow – something she wasn’t sure she was capable of in any time.

Every time she thought about that time, she couldn’t help but think of Daniel’s dead body there in the stable or those nights when the king would come to her door. Those were things she couldn’t get passed.

And not that magic had ever really done her any good – outside of bringing Henry to her – but she kept trying to figure out a magical way out of this. If only she could return Snow to her rightful age without having to go through all of this emotional trauma.

It wasn’t fair.

That is what she kept thinking about. It was much like how she thought all those years ago when she found herself in front of the king as he asked her to marry him. That entire time she had kept thinking it wasn’t fair. She was supposed to have gotten away from her mother, gotten away with Daniel where they would marry and build a family.

Daniel.

She had loved him with all her being.

One of the things she hated about this world’s version of the Snow White story – well the main thing she hated about it – was that it made her back story disappear. Instead it was about how she was apparently obsessed with her looks.

There was no mention of Daniel. No mention of her loss.

Daniel was as much a part of her story as she was. She had been foolish though, foolish to believe that she would have gotten away with it. Even if she had managed to run away with Daniel, her mother would have found them. She would have used her magic to find them Daniel would still have died at her hands.

Taking another drink, she felt her mind drifting to the other part of this – Emma.

For some reason, she couldn’t get angry – well not overly angry – with the blonde for what she had done. The idea that she had done this because she wanted a date was almost incomprehensible.

Did she want to go on a date with Emma?

That is what she had been avoiding thinking about as well.

It was a crazy thing to even consider. After all, everything about the two of them screamed that they shouldn’t be together.

And if Emma thought that making her and Snow making amends would help that situation, Emma didn’t know her parents very well. There was no way they would be ok with their daughter going out on a date with Regina.

Regina could picture it now, Emma telling her parents and then Regina having to stand there being accused of putting a spell on her. In their minds, Regina was sure that was the only way they could make sense of their daughter and the Evil Queen going out on a date.

Shaking her head and finishing off the drink, she decided it was time to go home. If nothing else it would distract her from these thoughts of Emma – even if Emma was there.

 

When she arrived home, she was surprised that Snow wasn’t front and center waiting for her. Instead, she heard her laughter coming from the kitchen.

Walking in, she saw Snow laughing at Emma who was juggling three apples while Henry was doing a poor job of attempting to match the feat.

Emma saw her standing there, and gave her a smile as she finished it up by catching the last apple and giving a deep bow to Snow, who clapped at the impromptu show.

It was then that Snow realized that Regina had returned and she bounded over to her. “Did you see Emma?” Snow excitedly said.

“Yes,” Regina said, peering a little behind Emma at what was on the stove.

“I cooked dinner,” Emma said.

“And what are we having?”

“Tacos,”

“A major culinary feat on your part, I’m sure.”

“Where is David?” Regina asked. She figured he must be there somewhere as his car was outside, and it wasn’t like she believed he was going to let Snow be unprotected around her.

“He’s upstairs in the guest room,” Emma said. “Neal was being fussy. He’s trying to get him to settle down and maybe take a nap.”

“I need to change clothes anyway, so I will check on them,” Regina said. She didn’t really need to change clothes, but just seeing young Snow there in her kitchen was already enough for her to not want to be there.

She could see a trace of disappointment on Snow’s face as she had said it and was surprised to see a similar expression on Emma’s face.

She paused, rethinking going upstairs, but in the end she left. She was at the bottom of the stairs when she heard Neal crying. By the time, she got to the top, she was wondering how she hadn’t heard him the moment she walked in the door.

Stopping in the doorway of the guest room, she saw David walking back and forth in the room, holding Neal in his arms and rocking him.

“How long has he been fussy?” she asked.

“For the past hour or so,” David said. “He’s not hungry, but doesn’t want to go down for a nap either. I think he misses his mom.”

Regina tried not to take offense at the comment, as she didn’t think David meant it as a dig on her. If anything, he looked like he needed a nap.

“Here, let me try,” she said coming into the room.

David hesitated a moment before handing Neal over to her.

“Go downstairs,” she said, “Your daughter has prepared dinner.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. I will see if I can get him to lay down for a nap and then join you.”

“Thanks,” he said before leaving.

After he left, Regina began to mimic David’s earlier movements, but used a vertical rocking motion rather than the horizontal that David had been using.

It still took a while before Neal began to settle down and she was able to lay him down for a nap. She didn’t leave the room at first, instead watching him sleep for a bit to make sure it was going to stick.

She thought about Henry and what he was like as a baby. She had been so lost as a parent to a baby and struggled, especially in those first couple of months. But it was all worth it.

Being a mom was the best thing she had ever done.

She thought about what David had said, that Neal missed his mom. Regina was sure it was true.

If they couldn’t find a way to return Snow back to normal Neal would be yet another child that she didn’t get to raise.

She was responsible for Snow not raising Emma. If she didn’t at least make an attempt at fixing this situation, then she would be just as responsible for her not raising Neal.

She was unsure she could even make an attempt, but so far she could find no way to return Snow to normal without fulfilling Emma’s wish.

She left the door partway open and went downstairs to where everyone was sitting at the dining room table apparently finishing up their food.

Regina took her normal seat, which was right beside where Snow was sitting, looking sullen. She had seen that expression on her face too many times growing up. If nothing else, young Snow had perfected the use of pouting when she wasn’t getting what she wanted. And her father always gave her what she wanted when she pouted.

Regina looked over at Emma as if to silently ask what the problem was and Emma merely shrugged.

“Did you get enough to eat?” Regina asked her.

“Yes,” Snow said.

“Good,” Regina said.

“I can get you a plate,” Emma said to Regina.   
“Thank you.”

Tacos weren’t high on the list of Regina’s favorite food, but she was happy to not have to cook dinner that evening.

She ate her first taco as Emma started to clean up the table with the help of her father.

“Regina,” Snow said.

Regina stopped and looked at her, but Snow didn’t say anything else.

“Did you want something?”

“I was wondering if you would take me riding tomorrow,” she said, her head down, and her eyes not even looking up from the table.

Regina looked up at Emma and David and Henry who had all stopped what they were doing and now watching her.

“I have work to do in the morning,” Regina sighed. “But we could go after lunch.”

“Really?” Snow smiled as she looked up at Regina.

“Yes,” Regina replied. “Emma, if you could bring her to stables at around 1, I will meet you there.”

“I can do that.”

“There, then it’s all planned out then,” Regina said. “Now if you don’t mind, I want to finish dinner.”

 

It was later that night, after David had gone home with Neal and Snow was in the guest room asleep and Henry in his room, probably reading or playing a game before sleeping.

Regina had finally changed her clothes and went downstairs to get a glass of water to take upstairs to bed with her. She heard the kitchen door open behind her and didn’t even need to look to know who it was.

“Is there something I can do for you Miss Swan?”

“Besides stop calling me that,” Emma said. “No. I just wanted to say thanks for agreeing to go riding with her. She mentioned earlier that she wanted to go with you. I think it meant a lot to her.”

Regina turned to face her. “You know one afternoon of riding isn’t going to fix this.”

“I know,” Emma said. “But the fact you are willing to try means a lot to me. I want my mom back to the way she is supposed to be, but I also don’t want you to be hurt in all of this.”

“I’m not sure you get to have it both ways,” Regina said, moving toward the door. “So, let’s just stick with trying to get your mom back to normal, or at least as normal as she gets.”

Emma moved to block her path. “I do mean it, I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

Regina looked down at the glass in her hands and then back up at Emma.

“I appreciate that,” Regina said. “I hope you know that I can’t make any promises about how well this will go tomorrow. In fact, I am guessing it will be a disaster, but I will try.”

“What made you change your mind?”

“Neal.”

“Neal?” Emma asked, giving her a confused expression. “How so?”

“That’s between him and I,” Regina said. “Now if you will excuse me, I’d like to get some sleep.”

Emma moved out of her way and Regina went back up the stairs. She had thought about telling Emma how it was the Neal changed her mind, but she didn’t want to see the hurt in Emma’s eyes if Regina had told her that she didn’t want Neal to grow up without his mom like Emma had to.

While Emma had a great relationship with her parents now, Regina could tell that was still a bit of a sort spot between them. Even though it was Regina’s fault that Snow and Charming were unable to raise Emma, Emma believed some of that blame rested on her parents’ shoulders.

Regina’s role in all that had shaped Emma’s life was part of the reason she found it hard to believe that Emma would ever want anything to do with her, much less go on a date with her.

Regina stopped by the guest room to peek in and make sure Snow was sleeping. Assured that she was, Regina continued on to her room. She needed her rest because tomorrow would not be pleasant for her. The stables were the last place she ever wanted to be with Snow White.


	10. Chapter 10

Regina hadn’t realized how tightly she had been gripping her steering wheel until she released it to put the car in park. Here she was at the stables, having come up here early to see to getting a couple of horses outfitted for her and Snow.

She hadn’t bothered eating, as she was not sure her stomach could take it. Surprisingly, she had fallen asleep quickly the night before but had woken around 3 a.m. from a nightmare. While she couldn’t remember it, the feeling it evoked in her was enough to keep her from getting back into any kind of restful sleep.

At work she hadn’t gotten much done because she kept thinking about this horse riding trip and how it would go. She knew she couldn’t just smile and fake it, but at least if she could keep from getting too upset then maybe that could be counted on as a win.

Getting out of the car, she paused, looking at the stables. She hadn’t been out here since … no don’t think about it, she told herself. Don’t think about Daniel dying again.

Closing the door, she approached the stable manager’s office. She had called that morning to reserve two horses but she wanted to see them before they were saddled. It wouldn’t do for young Snow to end up with a mount she couldn’t handle.

After inspecting the horses, she watched as a stable hand saddled both of them. She used to watch Daniel as he did this kind of work. It’s how they met of course on her family’s homestead. She could still remember that first day how he had smiled at her and it completely disarmed her.

I can do this, she thought, as she closed her eyes hoping to purge the memories that threatened to onslaught her.

“Regina!”

She turned to see Snow skipping toward her with Emma walking slowly behind her. Regina had instructed Emma to get suitable clothing for Snow to wear to ride in, which prompted a conversation about what suitable attire for riding was as Emma had never been riding herself.

Snow was smiling widely as she reached Regina, who couldn’t even force herself to match even a fraction of it. When she had first married the king, this is how things had started – Snow wanting to spend time with her constantly. Regina often wondered if Snow was that way with her own mother or if it was a reaction to the loss of her mother. Either way, it was like Snow was her little shadow.

“Are you ready?” Regina asked her.

“Yes!”

Regina looked at Emma. “I will bring her back to the station once we are done.”

“You sure?”

“There is no reason for you to stick around. Unless you feel some need to.”

“No. I’m sure your majesty has it well in hand,” Emma said giving her a slight bow and a smile.

Regina resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

“Let’s go,” Regina said to Snow and turned around toward the horses.

Regina reviewed a few basics of riding with Snow first.

“We’re not going to ride side saddle?” she asked.

“You can if you wish,” Regina said.

“Isn’t it proper to ride side saddle though?”

Regina couldn’t help but feel a little ridiculous having this conversation with a young Snow who had grown up to be a forest outlaw when she was on the run.  

“When you ride side saddle you are letting the horse have control,” Regina said. “Riding should be a partnership between you and the horse. Were you never taught that?”

Snow shook her head no.

While Regina had been an accomplished rider before she met Daniel, it was him who taught her not only how to enjoy the experience to its fullest, but also respect the strengths and weaknesses of each individual horse.

Since she was stuck in this little endeavor perhaps she could impart some knowledge onto young Snow.

“I guess it’s better late than never for you to learn then.”  
Regina instructed Snow to mount the horse and then gave her some corrective tips and had her do it over again. Once she was satisfied, she got on her own horse and they set off.

There were several riding trails around the stables – for beginners, intermediate and expert riders. Regina took her on the intermediate trail knowing Snow at least had training on how to ride a horse. If she had been with Emma she would have gone on the beginner trail.

Emma, why had she even thought about that, she wondered. Going riding with Emma was something she had never thought about before. Yet there the thought had come unbidden into her mind.

Horseback riding didn’t seem to be something Emma did, but that didn’t mean she might not be up for it.

Regina now found herself thinking about what kinds of things Emma did like to do. If they were to go out on a date, what would Emma want to do – the standard dinner and a movie or something else?

Her mind was so focused on this train of thought that she almost missed that Snow was speaking.

“What did you say?”

“I asked why you never took me riding back home?”

“I don’t know, just busy I guess. You know how it is around the court, there is always something going on or diplomats stopping by to seek audience with the king.”

“Do you think when we get back we could go riding again?”

“Perhaps.”

“When are we going home?”

“I don’t know.”

“I don’t like this place.”

“It’s not so bad.”

“I miss father. Don’t you miss him too?”

No, Regina wanted to say, but she held her tongue knowing that saying something negative about Snow’s father would not help matters at all.

“I know you miss your father,” Regina said. “But he isn’t here in this world. And there isn’t anything I can do about that. What I can do is make sure you are taken care of like he would want. Now, let’s work on some of your control while riding faster.”

….

Emma trusted Regina. She trusted her, yet she still worried about this little trip to go horseback riding. Snow had been so excited all day that Emma was thinking she has having some sort of sugar high. Emma was still having trouble reconciling this little version of her mother who clearly adored Regina and the adult version of her mother who had warred with Regina.

She felt like the excitement Snow was displaying was a double-edged sword. It was great that Snow seemed happier now that she had the opportunity to spend time one-on-one with Regina, but that kind of enthusiasm would probably quickly get on Regina’s nerves.

While Emma had been surprised that Regina had even agreed to this, she was also grateful. It meant Regina was willing to try and get along with her mother, and hopefully that would lead to Snow returning to her normal age.

A part of her still was in disbelief that this had been the result of a thought in her head. Magic had transformed her mom into a child all because Emma had wanted to go on a date with Regina. With all the things that had happened to her since arriving in this town, this might actually be the strangest.

Her father had also been surprised and had asked Emma if she thought it would be ok that Regina would be alone with Snow out there. She assured him that it would be fine even if she wasn’t entirely sure it would be.

While he had backed off blaming Regina for all of this, Emma still wondered how ok he would be if Regina and her did date. Her relationship with her parents still felt new in a lot of ways, and she didn’t want to disappoint them, but at the same time she didn’t want them dictating things like who she could date.

Besides all she had wished for (sort of wished for) was one date. It didn’t mean that the date would go well or that Regina would even want a second date. Plus, Emma had no idea what kind of date Regina would like to go on.

Maybe they should go someplace out of town, Emma thought. That way there would be no pressure of going on a date in town where everyone knew them.

“Don’t you think they should be back by now?” her father asked, interrupting her rather premature thoughts as he entered her office.

Regina was supposed to drop Snow off back at the station once they were done.

“I don’t know,” Emma said. “How long do horse rides usually take?”

“I didn’t think they would be gone this long,” he said, taking a seat in front of her desk.

“I’m sure mom’s fine.”

“It’s not her I’m worried about.”  
“Really?” Emma asked in surprise.

“What, you are the one who keeps stressing that we need Regina to get your mom back, so I would prefer it if we didn’t blow any chance of it because we left the two of them alone too long. I’m not sure how much of your mother that Regina can handle.”

Emma leaned forward at her desk. “Don’t you think it’s odd that mom looks at Regina like she hung the moon, yet they ended up the way they did? Did mom ever give you any indication that their relationship was anything but antagonistic?”

“Your mom always had a belief that there was good in Regina,” Charming said. “There was a time when we could have ended Regina’s reign of evil for good. We were going to do it too, have her executed. But your mother stopped it from happening. She believed there still had to be good in Regina. She wanted to see the good in Regina that she had seen before. I always thought she meant the Regina she first met, the one who saved her from the runaway horse. Now I wonder if there wasn’t more to it.”

“I think there must have been because this, the way mom is toward Regina, doesn’t make any sense,” Emma said. “She is seeking approval, attention, anything she can get from Regina.”

“I don’t know that it is all that strange though. Think about it. Snow’s mother had died. Regina became the new mother figure in her life.”

Emma almost said something about how unfair it was for Regina to have ever been put in that position, but she held her tongue. After what Granny had told her, she had thought a lot about how unfair things had been for Regina in her life. Not that it excused everything she had done, but at least now Emma found some of it more understandable.

Why wouldn’t she resent being made the mother of a princess when it was never something she wanted?

“Do you really have faith in Regina, that she can do this, that she can put the past in the past and get your mother returned to normal?” her father asked suddenly.

Emma thought about it a moment. Did she have faith in Regina? Yes. Did she think she could put the past in the past? That she was unsure of. This was obviously painful for her and Emma wasn’t sure that the pain wouldn’t be too much for Regina.

“I do have faith in her,” Emma told her father. It was the only answer she could give him because they both needed to stay positive and help this situation out in anyway they could.

….

Regina felt like this whole experience could have been a lot worse, so as they headed back to the stables, she felt a touch of relief that it hadn’t gone poorly.

For the most part, she concentrated on giving Snow riding instructions that way it would keep them both busy and not talking about anything else.

Once they were in the saddles, they dismounted and Regina handed the reins to the waiting stable hand. She paused just a moment before releasing them, thinking about how back home with Daniel, if her parents were present she would have handed them over while still making contact with Daniel’s hand. Sometimes it was the only contact they would have in a day.

They had been so careful because Regina knew her mother would never approve of their relationship.

And they had almost gotten away with it.

The stable hand took the reins and Regina was knocked from her memory. Suddenly, the stable was a place she needed to get away from.

“Let’s go,” Regina said, turning and not waiting to see if Snow was following, just assuming she was. They got out to her car and Regina didn’t bother opening the door for Snow, as she merely went to the driver’s side and unlocked the doors and got in.

She saw Snow stopped outside of the car, looking at the door. Regina sighed, got out of the car and walked around and opened the passenger door and then shut it again.

“Go ahead,” Regina said. “You open it.”

Snow paused and then approached it the door and paused once more before she finally touched the door handle and then finally opened the door.

“I know you were born to privilege,” Regina said knelt next to her so they could look more eye to eye. “You are used to servants and others waiting on you, bringing you things, doing things for you that in many cases you could do on your own. The woman you are going to become, her strength isn’t going to be defined by how well she can command others to do things. She’s going to be defined by the strength she gives others.”

Regina didn’t wait for a reaction, and instead stood and walked back to her side and got in. There was only a slight hesitation before Snow got in on her own, shut the door and even managed to buckle her seat belt.

…


End file.
